Chapter 5: Ancient Greece
Chapter Outline
1 Early People of the Aegean
2 The Rise of Greek City-States
3 Victory and Defeat in the Greek
World
4 The Glory That Was Greece
5 Alexander and the Hellenistic Age
Early People of the Aegean:
The Minoans
• One of the first civilizations, the
Minoans, began to thrive in the land of
Crete.
• They spread by trade and got to places
as far as Africa.
• The people were run from the Palace of Knossos a
place where the rulers and royal families lived.
• The walls were decorated with pictures of what is
believed to be a mother goddess.
• By 1400 BC there civilization disappeared not known
by what but some believe the next great civilization,
The Mycenaean’s, may have played a part.
Early People of the Aegean:
The Mycenaean
• An Indo-European group that
controlled much of Greece before
conquering Crete.
• They learned many things such as how
to trade from the Minoans and the
Mesopotamians.
• Each of there towns were run by a
warrior-king from his fortress
• The Mycenaean were known for there role in
the Trojan War. After looking it over scholars
agree that the war actually happened.
• Over the years the war has gained a more
romantic cause of Paris kidnapping Helen,
and they fight to get her back.
• Most of the history kept from back then was
by oral record. Many epics were told that way
such as Homer and the Odyssey.
Homer and the Odyssey
A jar made
to depict
the story of
Homer and
the
Odyssey.
The Rise of the Greek City
States:
Geography/ Government
• Greece is on a peninsula with many
mountains. In the few valleys they have
people began to farm.
• With many harbors it made it easy for
people and trade to spread.
• The cities were on two levels a polis
where the people live and the acropolis
with a temple to honor the gods and
goddess’s.
• The government in this area changed
many times. First it was a monarch,
then an aristocracy, and last a
oligarchy.
• There were also many changes in
warfare from iron weapons to the
phalanx formation.
The Rise of Greek City States
Forces for Unity:
• Even though the Greek city states fought
they were not divided completely because
they shared the same language, culture and
tradition.
• Like many early groups they were
polytheistic and praised gods with temples
and festivals.
• They believed they were superior to all nonGreeks this later helped them to defeat
Persia
The Rise of Greek City-States
Sparta: A nation of soldiers/ Athens a limited
Democracy
• The people had a rigorous citizenship. The sick people were
killed young and boys started military training at the age of 7.
People could not leave Sparta.
• Women were pressured to have healthy children and by law
had to listen to there husband or father.
• Another civilization Athens formed in Attica, moving from
Monarch to Aristocracy.
• The people disliked the nobles and the
limited democracy needed reform.
• Solon got rid of debt slavery, gave
citizenship to foreigners, also leaving many
limitations since most were slaves and
women weren’t allowed to leave the house.
• Boys went to school if there parents could
afford it. There they studied poetry, public
speaking, and athletic contests
The Persian Wars
• The Persian wars consisted of the many battles
between Greece and Persia.
• One of the more famous battles was the battle of
Marathon.
• The Greeks had around 300 men while the Persians
had
over 10,000.
• The Greeks made the Persians suffer so
much that they ended up winning the battle.
• later in 480 b.c. King Xerxes of Persia
brought together a much larger force but still
was not able to conquer Greece.
• In the end Persia backed down from their
attempt to conquer Greece. The Greeks had
won.
Shrine dedicated to
the battle of
Marathon
The Age of Percales
• All men during the age of Percales were
to take part in government.
• During the age of Percales a civil war
broke out.
• The battle was Greeks fighting Greeks.
• This was known as the Peloponnesian
war.
• The two rivals were Athens and Sparta.
• In the end Sparta emerged victorious.
Spartan warrior
Plato and Aristotle
• Plato and Aristotle were the greatest
philosophers of their time.
• Plato believed in reason and rational
thought, and also in the republic.
• Aristotle questioned Democracy.
• He also set up a school for his teachings in
Lyceum.
• Both of them had an old teacher Socrates.
• He passed away during this time period.
Socrates
Plato
Greek Art & Culture
• -Plato theorized that all of Earth’s objects had an
ideal form.
• -The Pantheon was supposedly idealistic, being
simple (a rectangle) with many columns and a
graceful sloped roof.
• -Early Greek sculptors did their work in Egyptian
form, with a rigid stature.
• -Sculptors sculpted also in an idealistic form. That
is, while realistic, the sculptures showed toned
muscles, a handsome face and washboard abs, even
though, say, the athlete was overweight and ugly.
• -Gods and Goddesses were also shown
on sculptures regularly.
• -The only Greek paintings that survived
the times were on vases. They had
many lifelike views of Ancient Greek
life.
Greek Dramas
• -Poetry and Drama from Ancient Greece is still
admired to these modern days.
• -Such poetry included Homer’s Epics, The Illiad and
The Odyssey.
• -The Greek Dramas were separated into two Genres,
Comedies and Tragedies.
• - The Greatest playwrights of the Tragedies were
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
• - The Best known Comedy playwright was
Aristophanes, of which almost all Greek Comedies
come from.
• -History was another respected area, and the two
large writers of Histories were Herodotus (The
Persian Wars) and Thucydides (The Peloponnesian
War).
The Rise of Macedonia
• -Philip II, King of Macedonia, took control of Greece
through diplomacy, war, and subterfuge.
• -Philip hired Aristotle to teach his young son,
Alexander, the ways of war and ruling.
• -Before Philip could attack the Persian Empire, his
dream, he was assassinated at his Daughter’s
wedding feast.
• -Olympias, one of Philip’s wives, outmaneuvered the
other wives and placed Alexander on the throne of
Macedonia and Greece.
• -Alexander was 20 years old when he inherited the
throne, and believed himself to be the next Achilles.
• -In the next 12 years, he would earn a reputation as
reckless, skilled, and confident Emperor.
Alexander the Great
• -Alexander took firm control of Greece, and
when Thebes rebelled, he ordered the entire
population to be sold into slavery or killed,
and the city burned
• -In 334 B.C, Alexander fulfilled his father’s
dream and crossed the Dardanelles strait,
therefore starting the invasion of Persia.
• -By the time of Alexander’s rule, Persia was
weakened under the unpopular Emperor
Darius III. At the battle of Granicus River,
Alexander won his first major battle.
• -By 331 B.C., Alexander conquered Palestine, Asia
Minor, Egypt, and Babylon. However, entering India,
he suffered major casualties and had to pull back.
And after his failure there, he fell ill and died
suddenly without an heir.
• - With the death of Alexander, his Empire fell into
many factions, including the Ptolemaic Egyptian
Empire, the Seleucid Empire in Asia Minor, Pontus
on the south coast of the Black Sea, Thrace on the
east coast of the Black Sea, Macedonia, The Greek
Cities, and Persia. All of them were led by
Alexander’s former generals and advisors.
Alexander’s quest to conquer the world formed the Hellenistic culture, which mixed
Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Eastern ideas into one large group. At the center of this
Hellenistic civilization was the city of Alexandria, Egypt. It was the first city to have a
million inhabitants, and had the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the 7 wonders of the world.