Greek Timeline
 776 BC - First Olympic Games
 500-300 -Golden Age of Greece
 Great advances in Science, Mathematics, Philosophy,
Architecture
 480 BC – Battle of Thermopyale
 431-404 – Peloponnesian War (Athens vs Sparta)
 338 BC - Philip II of Macedon takes control of Athens
 336 BC – Alexander the Great takes control and
conquers great new territories for Greece
 146 BC – Rome conquers Greece and
Greece under Alexander the Great
Geography of Greece
 Mountainous/Rocky land made farming and travel
difficult
 Barley, olives and grapes are main crops, Goats were
main animals

Olive oil was most prized export.
 Sailed the seas for trading (wheat, iron ore, timber)
 Trading between islands and throughout Mediterranean
with the Phoenicians
 The soil was not very fertile along the coastline. The
ancient Greeks used systems of irrigation and crop
rotation to help solve that problem.
Climate of Athens
Write a short fact about the climate of Athens
Ancient Greece Vocabulary
 City-State: A central city and surrounding villages that
follow the same laws, government, language, religious
beliefs and ways of life (Specific to Greece)
 Examples: Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Megara, Argos
 Empire: Large group of people & states ruled by an
Emperor
 Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire,
 Civilization : Name for a group of people who have a
place to gather, a language
Types of Government
 Oligarchy: Form of Government where power is held
by a few (Sparta)
 Direct Democracy: Form of government where
everyone votes on every issue (Athens).
 Why is this good? Why is this also difficult
 Representative Democracy: Voters choose elected
officials to make decisions for them (USA)
Athens
 Academic capital of Greece – based on education
 Largest City-State, present day capital
 Citizens could vote and be in government
 Direct Democracy – people would vote on every issue

Only Athenian born free males over the age of 18 could vote (Slaves,
Women, Foreigners couldn’t vote)
 Strong Navy
 Girls stayed home to do domestic duties. They were told to
“see little, hear little, and ask no more questions than was
absolutely necessary.”
 Boys studied reading & writing, practiced boxing and
wrestling.
Sparta
 Ruled by two Kings
 Monarchy : Ruled by a King
 Oligarchy: Ruled by a few
 Great Military Power
 Boys went to military training at age 7
 Girls trained to be strong mothers in order to have
strong children
 Enemies with Athens (Peloponnesian war)
Shared Culture of Athens & Sparta
 Both Were Independent states (City States)
 Both Speak Greek and use the Greek Alphabet
 Participated in ancient Olympics
 Worshiped the same gods and goddesses
 Both are enemies with the Persian Empire
Other City States
 Corinth
 Corinth was a monarchy. The people were ruled by a king. To
solve the problem of foreign money pouring into their polis,
the government of Corinth created its own coinage. They
forced traders to exchange their coins for Corinth's coinage at
the bank of Corinth, for a fee of course.
 Argos
 Many scholars credit Argos with the invention of coinage in
ancient Greece, an invention that made trade much easier.
 Megara
 They were famous for their glorious textiles, which were the
envy of other Greek city-states, did a great deal of trading.
Also founded the city of Byzantium,
(Constantinople/Istanbul) in 630 BCE
Greek Democracy
 Democracy means the rule of the people (in Greek).
 The earliest democracy in the world began in Athens, in 510
BC
 But Who Gets to Vote?
 Athenians developed the idea of Citizenship
 Greek leaders decided that only men who owned large plots
of land were citizens.
 Women, slaves, foreigners and people with little or no
property were not given the rights and responsibilities of
Athenian citizenship.
 While the Ancient Greeks restricted democratic rights to a
small portion of the population, the idea of democracy was
born.
Philosophy
 Ancient Greece gave the world Philosophy
 Study of why the world is the way it is = WHY
 Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
 All three of these lived in Athens for most of their
lives, and they knew each other.
 One of the reasons that Athens was the Academic
Capital
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
 Socrates came first, and Plato was his student, around
400 BC.
 Socrates was killed in 399 BC, and Plato began his
work by writing down what Socrates had taught, and
then continued by writing down his own ideas and
opening a school.
 Aristotle was more interested in Science than Socrates
or Plato, maybe because his father was a doctor. He
wanted to use Socrates' logical methods to figure out
how the real world worked; therefore Aristotle is really
the father of today's scientific method.
Socrates
 Felt an urge to think about the world
around him, and try to answer some
difficult questions.
 "What is wisdom?" , What is beauty?“,
"What is the right thing to do?”
 Socrates soon had a group of young men
who listened to him and learned from
him how to think. Plato was one of these
young men.
 Questioned the Government, and
thought the smartest people should make
the decisions for everyone.
 Father of Philosophy – Put to death for
outspoken views
 Taught by Socrates and learned how to think
and what to question
Plato
 Upset when Socrates was killed, and began
writing down Socrates’ ideas

Everything we know about Socrates comes from
Plato
 Began forming his own ideas about the world,
government


Tried to think about better forms of Government
for Athens
 Plato’s Republic
Thought most people were stupid
 Only the best should vote and make Decisions
Aristotle
 Another Greek Philosopher & teacher
 Tried to learn about everything possible

Walking encyclopedia
 Studied at Plato’s academy
 Teacher of Alexander the Great
 “It is doubtful whether any human being has ever
known as much as he did"
Major Achievements
 Art
 Created great statues and pottery
 Architecture
 Competition to see which City-State had the greatest
temples
 Culture (Poetry and Plays)
 Created outstanding literature, poetry and mythology.


Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey
Greeks famous for plays that were Comedies or Tragedies
Major Achievements
 Math, Science and Technology
 Greeks understood world was round

Had advanced Astronomy
 Archimedes

Gold Crown Story
 Greeks were very skilled at math


Invented rules of Geometry
Pythagorean Theorem
 Thought medicine & science was important

Hippocrates known as the Father of Medicine
Major Achievements
 Political Life & Ideas
 Developed Worlds First Democracy
 Created Citizenship
 Different ways to Govern people
 Military Strategy
 Great stories of war from Ancient Greece


Trojan Horse
300 Spartans at Thermoplye
Trading in Ancient Greece
 Being on the water helped Ancient Greece becoming
an important trading partner
 Use of coins increased trade
 Exports:
 pottery, bronze, silver and gold vessels, olive oil, wine,
and textiles
 Imports
 Timber, animal skins, luxury items and exotic raw
materials
 Influenced other cultures across the Mediterranean
Military Power of Greece
 Each City-State had their own army
 Wars were common, always fighting over borders
 Sometimes City States would join leagues as allies
 There are four main wars (How do we know?)




Trojan War (about 1250 BC, but might be made up)
Persian Wars (490-480 BC)
Peloponnesian War (441-404 BC)
Campaigns of Alexander the Great (331-323 BC).
State Authority
 Taxes
 Commonly collected on sales of houses, slaves, herds and
flocks, and other goods.
 Sometimes city-states would tax the very rich – usually in
times of war.
 Slavery
 Cleaned and cooked, worked in the fields, factories, shops, in
the mines, & on ships, even as police. They could not go to
school, or enter politics, or use their own name. They were the
property of their owner, not citizens . Some were captured in
battle, some were the children of slaves and some children
were sold into slavery by poor families.
Laws in Ancient Greece
 Each City-State had their own laws
 Most were written laws

Sparta was the exception
 Athens had juries for their courts
 Famous lawyers made people think about the purpose
of laws
 Draco – Harsh punishments, thought to deter crime
 Solon – More sensible laws, punishment fits crime
Religion in Ancient Greece
 Ancient Greeks practiced Greek Mythology
 Polytheistic Religion (Poly – Many, Theos-God) Greek

Poluqeos
 12 main Gods lived on Mount Olympus
 Zeus was the Supreme God
Ellhniko Alrabhto
 Greeks had their own language and alphabet
 The Greek Alphabet
 Used since 8000 BCE
 Similar to what we have today
 Important Because…
 Helped develop written record
 Allowed for communication
 Writers, poets, stories & plays
 Helped advance society
Modern Greece
 Population: 11 Million
 Capital: Athens
 Language: Greek
 Member of the European Union
 Trouble with Debt (spending more than they collect in
taxes
 Trouble with extremist political parties
Historical Understanding
 Political: Had a variety of governments
 Sparta: Oligarchy, Athens: Democracy
 Economic:
 Being near other big civilizations helped trade. Also had
their own currency to help trade with others.
Water/boats were very important.
 Religion
 Believed in Greek Mythology – Gods & Goddesses who
controlled the world
Historical Understanding
 Science/Technology:
 Great at Math (Pythagoras) and Astronomy
 Written Language
 Used the Greek Alphabet and had a spoken language
 Education
 Stronger in some city-states (Athens) than others
 Philosophy was important as was literature & drama
 Family Life
 Different for each City State (Athens vs Sparta)