THE CLASSICAL ERA
Chapter 6-Mastering the TEKS in World
History
Chapter 5-World History Book
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
(2000B.C.-100B.C.)
BUILDING AN EMPIRE
 The Medes and the Persians lived in the Middle East on the
Iranian Plateau between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
• Cyrus the Great united these 2 peoples in 550 B.C.
• Expanded Persia’s territory westward by conquering
Lydia and Babylonia and eastward by conquering
territories as far as the Indus River
BUILDING AN EMPIRE
The son of Cyrus the Great, Darius, unified the
Persian Empire by:
• Building public roads
• Introducing a uniform set of weights and
measures
• Establishing several capital cities
RELIGION
 At first Persians were polytheistic
 570 B.C. a new religion was introduced into the region by the
religious leader Zoroaster  Zoroastrianism
*Only 2 Gods-God of truth, light, and goodness and God
of darkness and evil.
*The whole universe was the battleground between these 2
forces.
PERSIA’S
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
 Learned the practice of using coins. Moved from bartering to a
“money economy”. Improved trade throughout the empire.
 Built hundreds of miles of roads using gravel and stone. Persian
Royal Road was 1,500 miles long with more than 100 stations holding
fresh horses.
 Darius established a postal service to make communication easier.
Couriers carried letters over the new roads.
THE “GLORY” OF GREECE
Civilizations gradually spread from
Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia to other
places in the Mediterranean region,
including Phoenicia, Israel, and Greece.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF
GREECE
 Ancient Greece consisted of a large mountainous
peninsula, the islands of the Aegean Sea, and the coast of
present-day Turkey.
 Hilly terrain makes farming quite difficult. Much of Greece
is stony and suitable only for pasture. People have come to
rely on trade.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF
GREECE
 Greeks produce:
• Wine
• Olive oil
• Pottery
Greeks were exposed to key achievements of other ancient
civilizations, such as the alphabet, invented by the
Phoenicians.
* Minoans were skilled at shipbuilding.
THE RISE OF GREEK CITYSTATES
 Mountains and the seas caused Greek centers of population to be cut
off from one another. As a result, city-states developed, each with its
own form of government and system of laws. In Greek, the word for
city-state is polis.
 Common Culture-based on their language, religious beliefs, traditions,
and close economic ties.
 All Greeks believed in the same gods and goddesses, including Zeus,
Athena, and Apollo, who were believed to live on Mount Olympus.
THE RISE OF GREEK CITYSTATES
 The siege of Troy still thrill us today.
 Citizens from all of Greek city-states participated every
four years in Olympic games in honor of Zeus and the other
Greek gods.
 Ancient Greeks were monotheistic or polytheistic?
• Polytheistic
MILITARY SPARTA
 THE most important city-state was SPARTA!!!!!!
 725 B.C. they conquered their neighbors and forced them to farm
for them.
 Life was organized around military needs. Individualism and new
ideas were discouraged. Strict obedience and self-discipline were high
valued. For example: if a baby was found unhealthy, it was left on a
hillside to die.
DEMOCRATIC ATHENS
 Unique system of government. Every citizen can participate in
government by voting directly on issues. Main governing body was the
Citizens Assembly. First 5,000 people could attend these meetings that
assembled 10 times a year.
 Democracy-ordinary citizens participate in government, either directly
or by elected representatives. Democracy means “rule of the people” in
Greek.
 Women, foreigners, and slaves were not considered citizens and could
not participate in government.
THE GOLDEN AGE OF
GREEK CULTURE
 5th Century B.C., the Persian Empire tried to conquer the
Greek city-states. FAILED! After the war the Greeks enjoyed
a “Golden Age.”
 Pericles championed democracy. He collected revenues
from other city-states and rebuilt Athens.
 Art, literature, and philosophy flourished.
THE GOLDEN AGE OF
GREEK CULTURE
 PHILOSOPHY:
• Greeks believed that human reasoning was powerful
enough to understand the world and to solve its
problems.
• Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle asked important
questions on and tried to find answers.
• What is goodness?
• What is morality and justice?
THE GOLDEN AGE OF
GREEK CULTURE
 PHILOSOPHY (continued)
• Socrates’ enemies persuaded the Athenian Council to condemn
Socrates to death for corrupting the young.
• Plato took Socrates’ method of questioning a step further. He
concluded that values like goodness, beauty, and justice actually
exist as individual ideas that are more real than the changing
“appearances” we see in daily life.
• Plato describes an ideal city-state ruled by philosopher kings in
his book called The Republic. His most famous student was
Aristotle.
• Aristotle collected and classified things from animals to city-state
constitutions, and studied their relationships.
“GOLDEN AGE”
 Aristotle
Socrates
Plato
“GOLDEN AGE”
 Art and Achitecture
• Greek Buildings and statues were brightly painted with bold colors.
• The Parthenon, a splendid marble temple with beautiful columns:
“GOLDEN AGE”
 Science and Mathematics
• Geographers like Eratosthenes showed the Earth was round and
calculated its circumference. He also created a device (sieve) for
discovering all prime numbers up to any limit.
• Archimedes is considered of the greatest mathematicians of
antiquity. Contributions to Geometry revolutionized the subject.
Practical man who studied:
*levers and pullies
*measured volume & density
*designed catapults
*invented large screw-like device
inside a cylinder to pump water
“GOLDEN AGE”
Music and Literature:
• Greeks listened to choral music and
instruments like the stringed lyre and flute,
and developed musical scales.
• Greek playwriters Sophocles, completed the
first known comedies and tragedies. Greeks
watched these plays in giant open-air
amphitheaters.
PELOPONNESIAN WARS
(432 B.C. -404 B.C.)
 Sparta vs. Athens
• Sparta finally declared war on Athens in the
Peloponnesian Wars.
• After 30 years of fighting, Sparta emerged as the
victor.
• Greatly weakened the city-states.
• Economic costs were considerable
• Poverty widespread
• Athens was completely devestated
• Sparta emerged as the leading city-state.
WOMEN IN ANCIENT
GREECE
 Women were regarded as inferior and excluded them from public
life.
 Managed the home, subject to their husband’s will.
 Spartan women enjoyed greater status than elsewhere in Greece.
• Education and Physical Training
• Could own clothing and slaves but not own land or enter into
contracts.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
 338 B.C., the King of Macedonia brought all Greek city-states
under his control. His son Alexander the Great, was taught by
Aristotle.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
 Conquered most of the Mediterranean world, including Egypt and
Persia, and as far as the Indus River Valley.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
 Hellenistic Culture: Fusion of Greek Culture with cultures
of the Middle East and India.
 Wherever he went he spread Greek Culture.
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
Vocabulary:
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Patricians
Pleabeians
Republic
Senate
Consuls
Tribunes
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
 Most influential civilizations emerges in the ancient world
of Rome.
 Romans were heirs to Greek culture:
• Believed in same Gods and Goddesses as the Greeks
• Gave them Lain (Roman) names.
• Studied and imitated Greek achievements in science,
art, history and literature.
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
The Twelve Tables:
• Nobody was above the law, plebeians nor
politicians.
• Covered civil, criminal, and religious law.
• Contributed to the importance of a
CONTRACT-private agreement can be
enforced by the government.
ROME EXPANDS TO
AN EMPIRE
 275 B.C., Rome already ruled the entire Italian peninsula.
 Rome defeated its main trading rival, Carthage, located just
across the Mediterranean in North Africa.
• Victory made Rome the leading power in the
Mediterranean.
• Rome next acquired territories in Spain, North Africa,
and the eastern Mediterranean.
• Roman Generals like Julius Ceasar completed the
conquests of Spain and Gaul (present day France).