Ancient Greece
Balkan Peninsula
Ancient
Greece
The Geography of Greece
• Mainland is a peninsula.
• Trading and fishing
• Farming – wheat, barley, olives,
and grapes
• Fiercely independent due to being
divided by mts and seas
The Minoans
• Island of Crete
• Earned living by shipbuilding and
trade
• Arthur Evans
• Knossos
• Collapsed about
1450 B.C.
• Theories
Palace at Knossos
Wall painting from Knossos
The First Greek Kingdoms
• Built by the
Mycenaeans
who were
originally from
central Asia
• Warriors became
nobles who ruled
the people they
conquered.
What were Mycenaean
Kingdoms like?
• Fortified palace on a hill --centerpiece of each kingdom
• Large farms (estates) belonged to
nobles
• Slaves and farmers lived on the
estates
Power from Trade and War
• Copied the ways Minoans
– Work with bronze and shipbuilding
– Learned how to use sun and stars at
sea
– Started worshipping Mother Earth
(Minoans’ chief goddess)
• Replaced Minoans as a major
power
• King Agamemnon --- Trojan War
What was the Dark Age?
• 1200 B.C. – earthquakes and
fighting among the kingdoms
destroyed hilltop forts
• 1100 B.C. – Mycenaean civilization
collapsed.
• 1100 – 750 B.C. were difficult for
Greeks
• Trade slowed and poverty took hold
What was the Dark Age?
(Continued)
• Stopped teaching how to write and
craftwork
• Positive – population shift
• Dorians
• Peloponnesus
• Increase in trade brought new way
of writing
• Greek alphabet
English words
that came
from Greek:
geometry,
physics,
astronomy, star,
galaxy, atom,
music, melody,
chorus, drama,
comedy, poet,
character,
history,
metropolis,
athlete, and
stadium
A Move to Colonize
• Couldn’t grow enough food to
feed everyone
• Colonies traded grains, metals,
fish, timber, and enslaved people
with the mainland in exchange for
pottery, wine, and olive oil
• 600 B.C. – mint coins
• No more barter
The Polis
•
•
•
•
•
•
City-states known as polis
Hill
Acropolis
Agora
Varied in size and population
Athens – nearly 300,000 people
(500 B.C.)
Athens
What was Greek
Citizenship?
• They ran the city-state.
• 1st to develop this idea.
• Only free native-born men who
owned land
• Women and children might qualify
but were limited in their rights.
• Rights: vote, hold office, own
property, and defend themselves in
court
Citizens as Soldiers
• Hoplites
– Took pride in their fighting for their
city-state
• Foot and armed:
– Round shield (help to create a
protective wall)
– Short sword
– 9 foot spear
• Rows
Review
1. What made the Minoans wealthy?
2. How was a Greek city-state
different form a city?
3. What changes occurred in Greece
during the Dark Age?
4. Name 3 rights granted to Greek
citizens that Americans have today.
5. Why did the use of money help
trade grow?
Minoans
Mycenaeans
Minoans
•Lived on
Crete
•Built first
civilization
in Greece
•Worked in
bronze
Mycenaeans
Earned
wealth
from
trade
•Lived on Greek
mainland
•First Greek
kings
•Built fortified
palaces on
hills
•Borrowed
ideas
from Minoans
Sparta and
Athens
Tyranny in the City-States
• Nobles seized power from kings
• Tyrants – take power by force and
rules with total authority
– Building new marketplaces, temples,
and walls
• Oligarchy – Sparta
• Democracy - Athens
Sparta
Sparta
• Founded by Dorians
• Instead of setting colonies, they
conquered and enslaved their
neighbors.
• Helots
Why was the Military So
Important?
• Fear of being taken over led to firm
control and training for war
• 7 years old live in barracks
• 20 years – enter regular army
• 30 years – returned home
• Girls were trained in
sports.
• Women were freer
Sparta’s Government
•
•
•
•
•
Oligarchy
2 kings headed a council of elders
All men over 30
Ephors
Discouraged foreign visitors
Athens
Life in Athens
• School
• Citizen at 18
• Girls
Building Democracy
• Early Athens – landowning nobles –
oligarchy
• Solon
• Peisistratus
• Cleisthenes
Cleisthenes
• All male citizens
• New powers
• Council of 500
–
–
–
–
Proposed laws
Dealt with foreign countries
Oversaw treasury
Members were chosen by lottery every year.
• Non-citizens were excluded.
• Credited with making Athens a
democracy
Riddle
• Men in Athens liked to go to fancy
dinner parties where they told
riddles.
• “When you look at me, I look at
you. When you speak, I open my
mouth and move my lips, but you
cannot hear me and I cannot see
you. What am I?”
• A Mirror
Review
1. Who were the helots?
2. Why did tyrants fall out favor with
the Greeks?
3. Why did Athenians choose officials
by lottery? Would there be
drawbacks to this method?
4. How did the Greek nobles gain
power?
Review
5. Why was Solon popular among
farmers and unpopular among
others?
6. How did Athenian democracy keep
one person from gaining too much
power?
Persia
Attacks the
Greeks
The Persian Wars
Both Sparta and Athens played
roles in defeating the Persians.
The Battle of Marathon
• 490 B.C. – Persians landed on
Marathon
• 20,000 soldiers – 10,000 Athenian
soldiers
• Athenian victory
Statute of Pheidippiedes along
Marathon Road
Another Persian Strike
• Darius’ son, Xerxes
• 480 B.C. – revenge
• Greece unites
Thermopylae
• Narrow pass through the mts that
was easy to defend
• 7,000 Greek soldiers held them
off for 2 days
• Traitor
• Persian victory
Salamis
• Strait
• Greek ships - smaller, faster, and
easier to steer
• Greeks destroyed almost the entire
Persian fleet
Plataea
• Greeks crushed the Persian army
here.
• Turning point
• Saved Greece from invasion
Ancient Greek warships --triremes
Scythians
• Grassland north of the Black Sea
• Hit-and-run tactics
Fall of Persian Empire
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•
•
•
Greek defeat weakened it.
Internal problems
Remained intact for 150 more yrs
Alexander the Great – 334 B.C.
Review
1. Why was Cyrus considered a fair
ruler?
2. The Persians wanted revenge
against the Greeks. Describe an
event in your own life or on the
news where revenge was
involved. What was the
outcome?
Battle
Marathon
Thermopylae
Salamis
Plataea
Action
Battle
Action
Marathon
Greeks overwhelmed Persians.
Thermopylae
Greeks were betrayed.
Persians won.
Salamis
Greek ships defeated Persians in the strait.
Plataea
Greeks crushed Persians.
The Age of
Pericles
Athenian Empire
• Under Pericles, Athens became
very powerful and more democratic.
• Delian League
– Defend members from Persians
– Drive Persia out of Greek territories
(Asia Minor)
– Freed almost all of Greek cities under
Persia’s control
• Delos
Democracy in Athens
• Direct democracy
– Athenian Assembly – passed all laws,
elected officials, and made decisions
on war and foreign affairs
– 10 officials (generals) carried out the
assembly’s laws and policies.
• Representative democracy
Ancient
Athenian
Agora
The Achievements
of Pericles
• Helped Athens dominate the Delian League
• Made Athens more democratic
• Allowed lower-class male citizens to run for
office
• Paid officeholders
• Culture blossomed
• Period of tremendous creativity and
learning
• Rebuilt Athens after Persian Wars
• Supported artists, architects, writers, and
philosophers
Daily Life in Athens
• Population
– 285,000 residents in all
– 150,000 were citizens
– 43,000 of the 150,000 were men with
political rights
– ~35,000 were foreigners
– ~100,000 enslaved people
• Slavery
Athenian Economy
• Farming
– Raised sheep and goats for wool, milk,
and cheese
– Grew grains, veggies, fruit (local use)
– Grew grapes, and olives to make wine
and olive oil to sell abroad
• Imported grain
• Trading center of the Greek empire
(400s B.C.)
• Merchants
Roles of Men and
Women
Men
• Worked in
morning
• Exercised or
attended mtgs of
assembly
• Evenings:
enjoyed all male
gatherings
Women
• Life revolved around home
and family
• Married at 14/15yrs
– Expected to have children and
take care of household duties
• Poor women
• Upper-class: stayed home
and supervised household
chores
• Rarely went out (except to
funerals or festivals)
• Could not attend school
Women
• Compare to present day as well
as early American women
• An Athenian woman’s childhood
ended when she married. The
day before the wedding, she took
her toys to the Temple of Artemis
(goddess of the hunt, protector of
women in childbirth). After the
wedding, the husband would carry
her over the threshold.
Aspasia
• Moved more freely in society
• Not a native Athenian (gave
her special status)
• Well-educated
• Taught public speaking to many
Athenians
• Her writings did not survive
• Plato
• Pericles often consulted her
• Became influential in politics even
though she could not vote
The
Peloponnesian
War
Difference in the
Greek city-states
• Athenian empire – grew richer and
powerful
• Suspicious – other city-states
joined with Sparta against Athens.
• Sparta and Athens – built 2
different kinds of societies (neither
understood or trusted the other)
• War broke out in 431 B.C.
Pericles’
Funeral Oration
• 1st winter of war – public funeral
• Pericles’
speech
Athens’ Defeat
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Both – confident
Spartan’s ability in open battles
2nd year – deadly disease
Pericles dies.
Standoff continues for 25 years
Spartan deal with Persians
Spartan navy defeats Athens
Athens surrenders.
Results:
• Weakened all major Greek citystates
• Many died in fighting
• Farms were destroyed.
• 1000s left jobless
• Impossible for unity
in Greece
Aftermath
• Sparta tried ruling all of Greece for
30 yrs.
• City-states rebelled
• Sparta fought Persia
• Failing to notice that Macedonia (to
the North) was growing in power
and cost them their freedom
Review
1. What caused the Peloponnesian
War?
2. According to Pericles, what duties
did the Athenian citizens have?
3. What caused the lack of trust
between Sparta and Athens?
4. How did the direct democracy of
Athens differ from the democracy
we have in the United States?
Government
Economy
Culture
Wars
Government
democracy
Economy
Farming and trade
Culture
Wars
Great creativity,
major rebuilding program
Peloponnesian War,
Athens defeated