Chapter 7 – Civilization
of the Greeks
Geography played a major role in Greek
History …
Mountains –
kept each community separated from
each other – natural borders
Seacoast –
lots of inlets and bays – become a
seafaring people
Between 750 and 500 B.C.E., Greek civilization witnessed the emergence of the city-state as the
central institution in Greek life and the Greeks’ colonization of the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
Classical Greece lasted from about 500 to 338 B.C.E. and encompassed the high points of Greek
civilization in arts, science, philosophy, and politics, as well as the Persian Wars and the
Peloponnesian War.
I.
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Minoan Crete
2800 BC - just off Greek mainland
prosperous culture and sea empire
traveled and traded with Egyptians
reached its height in 2000-1450 BC Knossus (see
map)
Sudden collapse in 1450 BC – invasion of
Mycenaeans
II.
Mycenaeans
1600-1100 BC (height of culture)
Indo-European group
powerful monarchs
warrior people
built extensive commercial network
Story by Homer … King Agamemnon conquers Troy
in 1250 BC
The term Mycenaean is derived from Mycenae, a remarkable fortified site excavated by
the amateur German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann starting in 1870. Mycenae was
one center in a Mycenaean Greek civilization that flourished between 1600 and 1100
B.C.E. The Mycenaean Greeks were part of the Indo-European family of peoples who
spread from their original location into southern and have become shrouded in
mystery.
III.
Dark Ages of Greece (1100-750 BC)
Decline in Greek Population
About 850 BC things start to improve …
iron replaces bronze (affordable weapons for
defense)
Farming is revived
adopted the Phoenician alphabet
Homer appears to write myths and stories
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Ideas of excellence, virtue, heroism (Iliad and Odyssey)
“Homer did not so much record history, but make it …”
The Slaying of Hector
This scene, painted on a Corinthian Greek vase, depicts the final battle between Achilles
and the Trojan hero Hector, as recounted in Homer’s Iliad. The Iliad is Homer’s epic
masterpiece and was used by later Greeks to teach the aristocratic values of courage
and honor.
© AAAC/Topham/The Image Works
IV.
The Greek City States
750 – 500 BC city-states begin to emerge
Known as POLIS (Poleis)
At center of City-states or polis was the AGORA or
marketplace where the lower courts were held
Polis community had 3 parts:
1. citizens with rights (adult males)
2. citizens with No rights (women & children)
3. non-citizens (slaves and resident aliens)
Military system emerges:
Hoplite Infantry – heavily armed with bronze or leather helmets,
breastplates, shin guards, shields and swords – only those that could
afford the weapons could be a part of this militia group
Phalanx – formations that the hoplite infantry used to advance against
enemy – rectangular shape
Watch the 1st PBS Video on Greece
(Link to videos through CPCC Library – right click to open hyperlink)
http://media.nclive.org/
Go to World History
Go to "The Greeks, Crucible of Civilization" Parts 1 & 2
This is approximately 1.5 hours of video. Please read
through the next slides on the PowerPoint before watching
the movie. This will help you take notes. This information
will be included in your next quiz.
Between 750 – 550 BC (Archaic Greece) a great number of
Greeks left the colonies:
1. growing gulf between rich and poor
2. overpopulation
3. development of trade (increased industry)
Tyrants appear as rulers (not Evil) – rulers Not subject to
laws … young aristocrats (See page 160 for definition of
tyrant)
Tyrant Pisistrates
► Reduced taxes/free loans
► Offered people chance at prosperity (olives & industry)
527 BC Pisistrates dies … Hippias
When brother is murdered turns against people …
Cleisthenes overthrows Hippias with help from other
aristocracy and crowds … (510 BC)
Aysagarus joins with Spartans (rivals of Athenians) to exile
Cleisthenes and other aristocracy … rules from Akropolis
508 BC ******* Revolution !!!!!!!
Bring Cleisthenes back …. Democracy is born!
http://media.nclive.org/
Go to World History
Go to "The Greeks, Crucible of Civilization"
Part 3
This is the 2nd PBS Video you need to view
on Greece – Classical Greece. The
PowerPoint frames that follow reflect what
you will view.
Part II – Classical Greece
I.
Age of Pericles – Height of Athenian Greek Power
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Assembly passed all laws and made final decisions on war and foreign policy
Made lower-class citizens eligible for public office
Olympic games
Became leading center of Greek culture – Drama/theatre
Classical idea of art – statues of gods
Philosophy (“love of wisdom”)
Sophists – scholarly realists
Rhetoric – debate
Socratic Method – question and answer techniques
Herodotus – early Greek historian and master story teller
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Advancements were a threat to Sparta
The Parthenon
The arts in Classical Greece were designed to express the eternal ideals of reason, moderation,
symmetry, balance, and harmony. In architecture, the most important form was the temple, and the
classic example of this kind of architecture is the Parthenon, built between 447 and 432 B.C.E.
Located on the Acropolis in Athens, the Parthenon was dedicated to Athena, the patron goddess of
the city, but it also served as a shining example of the power and wealth of the Athenian empire.
© Photodisc (Adam Crowley)/GettyImages
II. Sparta
grows out of Myacean empire – warriors
“descendants of Zeus”
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Oligarchy – not a democracy
2 kings over military
Gerousia – council of elders (shared power with kings)
Apella – general assembly of all male citizens
Very closed/strict society
500BC Sparta uses military might to gain control of
Peloponnesus (dominates Peloponnesian League)
Return to the Reading (Chapter 6 Persia) on page 149 – 150.
Xerxes vowed to finish the job of his father and defeat
Greece.
Sparta in charge of “land war.” – King Leonidas
Athens in charge of “sea war.” – Themistocles
Sparta’s objective was to hold off the Persian army
(Thermopylae – mountain pass in Greece) until the naval
fleet was in place at Salamis, and this would then force the
Persians to make a naval battle.
***Note to students about the movie, “300.” There are as many fictional representations in
this movie as there are facts. I encourage those of you who are movie lovers to see if
you can determine fact/fiction after completing this section on Greece.
III. Peloponnesian War and Decline of Greek
States
After the wars with Persia, for about 40 years, Greece was really a
divided country.
Athens v. Sparta
431 BC War breaks out …
Athens = Defensive – stay behind walls of Athens
Sparta = Offensive
405 BC Athens naval fleet is defeated at Ageospotami
Athens Surrendered to Sparta
All of Greece is weakened by the wars ….
IV. Rise of Macedonia and Alexander the Great
(Also see reading in textbook under Chapter 6, pages 150 – 151)
359 BC – Phillip of Macedonia
► Built a country on diplomacy and strength
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New military and technology
Phalanx
Sarisa (pike)
Crossbows
Catapults
338 BC - Victory over Athens and Thebes (battle of Coronea)
Creates Corinthian League
Alexander the Great
(after Phillip is murdered)
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Became Macedonian warrior at 14 years old
Served as a General at 18 years old.
Takes over for his father at 20 years of age
Continues use of military/technology
334 BC – Battle against Persia
(Also see textbook pages 150-151)
Alexander the
Great
This marble head of Alexander the
Great was made in the second or
first century B.C.E. The long hair
and tilt of his head reflect the
description of Alexander in the
literary sources of the time.
Alexander claimed to be descended
from Heracles, a Greek hero
worshiped as a god, and when he
proclaimed himself pharaoh of
Egypt, he gained recognition as a
living deity. It is reported that one
statue, now lost, showed Alexander
gazing at Zeus. At the base of the
statue were the words ‘‘I place the
earth under my sway; you, O Zeus,
keep Olympus.’’
© British Museum, London/HIP/Art Resource, NY
In just twelve years, Alexander the Great conquered vast territories.
Dominating lands from west of the Nile to east of the Indus, he brought the
Persian Empire, Egypt, and much of the Middle East under his control.
TYRE (off shore island) - key strategic location
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causeway – land bridge to island
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siege towers
Please watch this brief video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2y4_ixurE8
(link to video on Alexander and Tyre) (right click to open hyperlink)
332 BC – Battle of Issus – Meets Darius III and defeats
332 BC (late) – Syria, Palestine and Egypt were under his
control
EGYPT 331 BC
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No bloodshed
Proclaimed himself the “liberator”
They proclaimed him “son of Amon” and Pharaoh
Alexandria is built (center of culture/science/learning)
HELLENISM – “to make Greek” – Greek way of Life is spread
Pergamum
Athen’s greatness starts to dwindle in the face of the new
Alexander cities
Greatest – Egypt and Pergamum
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great terraces
huge theatre
temples at high places
public buildings/gymnasiums/agora
Trajan Temple at Pergamum
Temple of Sarapus Pergamum
Theatre at Pergamum
327 BC – Enters India
Complaining among Troops
Turns around to go Home ….
323 BC – Alexander Ill and Dies (32 years old)
Leaders begin to fight for Empire
Hellenistic Kingdoms:
1. Macedonia – Antigonid Dynasty (most powerful)
2. Syria and East – Selucids (largest)
3. West and Asia Minor – Pergamum
4. Egypt – Ptolomy (wealthiest and most influential)
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good coast/harbor
1st lighthouse constructed (300-400 feet tall)
The World of the Hellenistic Kingdoms
Sketch of Lighthouse constructed at Egypt
(Thiersch)
Economic/Social/Trade
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Commerce increased as new cities spring up along conquest routes
Most important product – grain
Women gain more independence
Culture
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Promoted theatre
Historical and biographical literature
Buildings
Statues/sculptures
Science
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Heliocentric view
Round earth
Archimedes – geometry, spheres, cylinders, PI – invetor
Philosophy
Athens remains center for philosophy
Epicurus
► Self-interest as motivating force
Stoicism (How to find happiness)
► Live in harmony with will of gods
► Public service = good