Classical Civilizations:
Athens & Sparta
Lesson 8: Athens and Sparta
Lesson 9: Athens and Olive Oil
This powerpoint was used in a workshop at ESC
16 in Amarillo on June 26, 2012.
It includes Lessons 8 and 9 from the Focus:
Middle School World History publication from
CEE.
Many slides are procedural directions for teachers.
Any teacher can use the powerpoint as a
springboard for teaching the lessons with some
modifications.
Lesson 8: Athens and Sparta—
Imagine the Possibilities
Athens and Sparta
were both Greek citystates*.
If they were similar in
so many ways, why did
they develop such
different economic
systems?
* A city-state is a city and
surrounding region that is also an
independent nation with its own
army, currency, laws, and elected
leaders.
Lesson 8: Athens and Sparta—
Imagine the Possibilities
Pair students and have one in each pair read “Athen’s
Choices” (p. 118) and one read “Sparta’s Choices” (p.
119).
Give each pair a copy of the Venn diagram on page
122 and the list on page 120. Have them work together
to put each of the 15 statements (statement numbers)
into the Venn diagram.
Lesson 8: Athen’s Choices (p. 118)
Athens was located in one of
the least fertile areas in
ancient Greece.
It could not grow the grain
necessary to feed the growing
city-state.
It grew olives and grapes,
which it used to produce olive
oil and wine.
Athens traded olive oil and
wine for grain.
Their dependence on trade
led to the building of the
Athenian fleet, which sailed
the Mediterranean from Spain
in the west to the Black Sea
in the East.
Lesson 8: Athen’s Choices (p. 118)
Athenians built magnificent temples,
such as the Parthenon, but lived in
simple sun-dried brick homes.
Houses had no plumbing and used olive
oil lamps.
Marriage and family were important;
marriages were arranged by families.
Girls at the age of 14 were married to
older men twice their age.
Women didn’t have much freedom in
Athens. Although women were citizens,
they could not own or inherit property.
Women remained at home and managed
the household and slaves, appearing in
public only with permission from their
husbands.
Girls did not receive a formal education;
most stayed home and learned how to
manage a household.
Lesson 8: Athen’s Choices (p. 118)
Men did much of the shopping at the market.
Boys usually went to school at the age of 7
and learned reading, writing and grammar,
music, and gymnastics. They wrote on waxcovered wooden tablets.
At age 18, a boy received a year of military
training.
Most families of the citizen class owned at
least one slave, who commonly farmed, the
main industry in Athens.
Slaves also worked in the home and cleaned,
cooked, and made clothing. Slaves also
worked in the silver mines, the worst job.
The arts were celebrated and great works of
art, literature, and drama set a standard for
today. Some of history’s greatest thinkers
and philosophers—Socrates, Plato, Aristotle- walked the streets.
Athens was the birthplace of democracy.
Lesson 8: Sparta’s Choices (p. 119)
Sparta conquered Messenia
around 725 B.C., taking over
Messenian land and enslaving
the Messenians to serve as
agricultural slaves called
helots. Why? Sparta could
not feed a growing population.
They forced the helots to grow
crops for Sparta. The helot
population grew, outnumbering
the Spartans by 8 to 1.
In 600 B.C., the helots revolted
and were almost successful.
Sparta responded by focusing
on military strength, and their
government exerted total
control.
Lesson 8: Sparta’s Choices (p. 119)
Every newborn baby had to be presented
to rulers who decided whether the baby
had the potential to be a great soldier or
the mother of strong children. Those who
failed the test were abandoned to die.
Daily life for men focused on the military.
At age 7, boys left home and moved into
military barracks.
Their schooling involved marching and
training during the day and sleeping on
hard benches at night.
To encourage stealthiness, boys were fed
poorly and encouraged to steal food—but
were warned they would be beaten if
caught. That made tough soldiers who
were ready to fight.
Spartan mothers told their sons to come
back from war carrying their shields
(victorious) or upon them (dead).
Lesson 8: Sparta’s Choices (p. 119)
Spartan women had freedom compared to
women living in other Greek city-states,
taking on responsibilities such as managing
the family estate.
Spartan women could inherit property.
Girls were encouraged to be fit and
strong—they ran, wrestled, and played
sports because strong Spartan women
would produce strong Spartan men for
military service.
Their government included two kings, a
council of elders, and an assembly who ran
the day-to-day affairs.
People were not permitted to travel except
for wars, and trade was discouraged.
Money was made of iron bars.
Free expression was discouraged and the
arts and philosophy that flourished in
Athens did not occur.
Spartan society valued
strength, duty, and
discipline over individual
worth and freedom. From
this society we get the
English word Spartan,
which means simple,
frugal, or austere. Other
Greeks were amazed at
Sparta’s military power.
LESSON 8 – ATHENS AND SPARTA: IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES
Compare and Contrast
Athens
Sparta
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
Lesson 8: Athens and Sparta—
Imagine the Possibilities
Page 121 gives answers:
Sparta:
– 1, 2, 3, 9, 12, 14, 15
Athens:
– 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13
Both:
– 4, 5
Lesson 8: Athens and Sparta—
Imagine the Possibilities
Why could neither city-state produce enough
food for their citizens?
How did Athens solve the problem?
How did Sparta solve the problem?
Lesson 8: Athens and Sparta—
Imagine the Possibilities
You could stop here just to teach the history,
but the following slides extend the
economic content by reviewing basic
concepts and applying them to Athens and
Sparta.
Lesson 8: Athens and Sparta—
Imagine the Possibilities
Explain that economists have developed theories and
tools that help explain human behavior, both by
individual people and entire societies.
Economists use economic concepts and a key economic
tool to explain how Athens and Sparta developed
differently.
If students already know the difference between and
command economy and a market economy, they
could also apply that to Athens (market) and Sparta
(command).
LESSON 8 – ATHENS AND SPARTA: IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES
Societies must make choices
because of scarcity.
Scarcity: The condition that exists
because human wants exceed the
capacity of available resources to satisfy
those wants.
Productive Resources: Natural
resources, human resources, and capital
resources used to make goods and
services.
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 8 – ATHENS AND SPARTA: IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES
Productive resources include:
Natural Resources —
"Gifts of nature"
that can be used to produce goods and services; for
example, oceans, air, mineral deposits, forests, and
fields of land.
Human Resources
— The health,
education, experience, training, skills, and values of
people; for example, doctors, teachers, and farmers.
Capital Resources
— Goods made and used
to produce and distribute goods and services; examples
include tools, machinery, and buildings.
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 8 – ATHENS AND SPARTA: IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES
Societies must make choices
because of scarcity.
Choices: Because our wants are greater
than our resources, people must make
choices. When you choose one thing,
you must give up something else, which
means there is an opportunity cost.
Opportunity Cost: The highest valued
alternative that is given up when a
choice is made.
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 8 – ATHENS AND SPARTA: IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES
Production Possibilities Frontier
Production Possibilities Frontier: A table or
graph that shows the various combinations of
two goods it is possible to produce with a
given amount of resources.
Imagine a society that used all of its resources
(natural, human, and capital) to produce two
goods: olives and grapes. We can illustrate
their choices on a production possibilities
frontier, shown on the next slide.
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 8 – ATHENS AND SPARTA: IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES
Production Possibilities Frontier
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 8 – ATHENS AND SPARTA: IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES
Guns vs. Butter
Guns vs. Butter: A phrase that refers to
the trade-off that nations face when
choosing to devote more or fewer
resources to military or civilian goods and
services.
Guns: Resources devoted to the
production of military goods or services.
Butter: Resources devoted to the
production of civilian goods or services.
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 8 – ATHENS AND SPARTA: IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES
Guns vs. Butter
Where would
Athens likely be?
Where would
Sparta likely be?
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
Lesson 9: Athens and Olive Oil
This is a good follow-up to the lesson on Athens and
Sparta.
This lesson delves deeper into the trading that Athens
did to obtain grains.
Discuss trade:
– Why do people trade? (to get goods and services they can’t
efficiently produce themselves)
– Are people better off or worse off when they trade?
(Students should recognize that specializing and trading is more
efficient than trying to be self-sufficient.)
– You hear Americans complain that very little is manufactured in
the United States. Why do they see this and the resulting trade
as a negative? (answers could vary including making U.S.
dependent on other countries)
Ask student what they know about olive oil and its
many uses, then have then read Activity 9.1.
Activity 9.1: Agriculture in Athens
The 630,000 acres of land in
Attica, the region in which
Athens was located, were
rocky and unproductive. In
fact, 1/3 was not suitable for
any kind of farming.
Even with careful land
management and irrigation,
the region only produced
675,000 bushels of grain per
year—hardly enough to
supply a quarter of its
population.
Without imported food,
Athens would have starved.
Activity 9.1: Agriculture in Athens
The terrain of Attica was well suited
for growing olives but not grain.
An olive tree takes 16 years of
growing to produce usable olives
and 40 years to reach full
productivity.
Olive trees were so valuable in
Athens that cutting one down was a
crime punishable by exile or death.
The olive tree and its leaves
became symbols of peace, wisdom,
and victory, but olive oil was the
“liquid gold” that was the source of
Athen’s wealth.
Greek olive oil was considered the
finest in the ancient world.
Activity 9.1: Agriculture in Athens
Olive oil is used as a food and in
cooking, in religious ceremonies, as
lamp fuel for lighting homes, as a skin
conditioner and a cleanser instead of
soap, and as a medicine.
Hippocrates, the father of medicine,
referred to it as “the great therapeutic”
with more than 60 uses as a medicine.
Olive oil was applied to the skin of
Olympic athletes before competitions.
Olive oil was as valuable to the ancient
world as petroleum oil is to the modern
world.
In Greek mythology, olives and olive
oil were considered gifts from the
goddess Athena, who was selected as
Athen’s patron saint over Poseidon.
Activities 9.2, 9.3, and 9.4: Athens and Olive Oil
When students have read Activity 9.1, debrief enough to
assess their understanding of olive oil and its importance
to Athens.. (Activity can be done without going on to
Activity 9.2)
Then tell students they will travel back in time to visit
the Athenian assembly and listen to a discussion that
might have taken place.
Activity 9.2 on page 138 needs 17 characters and a
narrator.
Give the 4 students who play the part of Athenian slaves
copies of Activity 9.3.
Give the 4 students who play the part of Egyptian slaves
copies of Activity 9.4.
Give each student a pebble or paper clip; the teacher
will need two cups.
Read Activity 9.2. Each of the 8 slaves has a flip card.
Activities 9.2, 9.3, and 9.4: Athens and Olive Oil
As students read Activity 9.2, you can debrief along the
way, or you can do it at the end.
– Why doesn’t Pericles grow his own food? It is more beneficial; the
time to grow food would take away from his blacksmithing.
– Why does Themistocles grow food but not make his own tools and
weapons? It is more beneficial to farm and use the profit to buy
tools.
– Compared to Pericles, is Themistocles better at farming or
blacksmithing? He does both well.
– If he is better at both, why doesn’t he do both? He would give up
too much farm production by blacksmithing.
Use the next 3 vocabulary slides to discuss voluntary
exchange, absolute advantage, and comparative
advantage.
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
Vocabulary
Voluntary Exchange: Trading goods
and services with other people because
both parties expect to benefit from the
trade.
Absolute Advantage: The ability to
produce more units of a good or service
than some other producer, using the
same quantity of resources. (Themistocles has
an absolute advantage at farming. Themistocles also has
an absolute advantage at blacksmithing.)
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
Vocabulary
Comparative Advantage: The ability to
produce a good or service at a lower
opportunity cost than some other
producer. This is the economic basis for
specialization and trade. (see next slide)
Opportunity Cost: The highest valued
alternative that is given up when a
choice is made.
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
In Athens:
Producing one jar of olive oil meant giving
up one-half bushel of wheat.
The opportunity cost of
is
In Egypt:
Producing one jar of olive oil meant giving
up four bushels of wheat.
The opportunity cost of
is
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
In Egypt:
Producing one bushel of wheat meant
giving up one-fourth jar of olive oil.
The opportunity cost of
is
In Athens:
Producing one bushel of wheat meant
giving up two jars of olive oil.
The opportunity cost of
is
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
Comparative Advantage: The ability to
produce a good or service at a lower
opportunity cost than some other producer.
Which country has the comparative advantage at growing
wheat? Egypt Why? It has the lower opportunity cost.
Which country has the lower opportunity cost of producing
olive oil? Athens—they only give up ½ bushel of wheat.
Which country has the comparative advantage in producing
olive oil? Athens
Therefore, who should produce olive oil? Athens
Who should produce wheat? Egypt (Even though, like
Themistocles, they may produce both very well.)
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
The articles which it is difficult to get, one
here, one there, from the rest of the world,
all these it is easy to buy in Athens.
—Isocrates, Greek Orator (436–338 B.C.)
The magnitude of our city draws the
produce of the world into our harbor, so
that to the Athenian the fruits of other
countries are as familiar a luxury as those
of his own.
— Thucydides,
Greek Historian (460–395 B.C.)
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
Vocabulary
Production Possibilities Frontier: A
table or graph that shows the various
combinations of two goods it is possible to
produce with a given amount of resources.
Athens’ Production Possibilities Table
Athens
All
cards
wheat
Flip
one
card
Flip
second
card
Flip
third
card
Flip
last
card
Wheat
Olive Oil
4
0
3
2
2
4
1
6
0
8
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
Athens’ Production Possibilities Graph
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
Egypt’s Production Possibilities Table
Egypt
All
cards
wheat
Flip
one
card
Flip
second
card
Flip
third
card
Flip
last
card
Wheat
Olive Oil
16
0
12
1
8
2
4
3
0
4
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
LESSON 9 – ATHENS AND OLIVE OIL
Egypt’s Production Possibilities Graph
FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
Jean Walker
Director, West Texas Center for Economic Education
College of Business
West Texas A&M University
Canyon, Texas
806-651-2515
jwalker@wtamu.edu