Ancient Greece
Physical Features of Greece
I. The Development of Greek Civilization.
A. Reasons why Ancient Greece flourished.
1. The Greek peninsula had excellent harbors to stimulate trade.
2. Surrounded by numerous islands.
3. Favorable climate.
a. Long dry summers and short mild winters (Much like southern California)
b. Mountain ranges protected Greece from the Northern climate.
1b. The Pyrenees, Alps, and Balkan
Physical Features of Greece
The Pyrenees, Alps, and Balkan
Mountain ranges protect Greece from
the Northern climate.
The Greek peninsula
has excellent harbors
to stimulate trade and
is surrounded by
numerous islands.
Greek Colonies
Birth of Greek City-States
I. City-States (750 B.C. to 400 B.C.)
A. City-States were small in area.
B. Each city-state had its own special gods or goddesses.
C. Trade with each other.
Reasons for the Lack of Greek Unity
I. Reasons for the lack of Greek unity.
A. Greece's many mountains isolated and separated the city-states.
B. The various Greek city-states had different types of governments.
1. Limited Monarchies- The power of the king was limited by the nobles.
2. Oligarchies- a small group of land-owning nobles controlled the
government.
3. Limited Democracies- citizens had many rights and participated in the
government.
C. Patriotism was for each individual city-state rather than for the country.
Sparta: A Military Society
I. Sparta: A Military Society
A. Sparta focused on foreign conquest in response to population pressure.
1. Neighboring city-states were conquered and annexed.
B. Citizens lived according to stern rules and strict regulations.
1. Individual lives were regulated from birth to death.
2. Citizens were denied freedom of speech or property ownership.
3. All land was owned by the state and rented out to people.
a. Political rights were granted only to a small body of land-owning aristocrats.
Aegean
Sea
Sparta
Sparta: A Military Dictatorship
B. Strong military life
1. Every new-born infant was examined by a committee.
a. Babies were abandoned to die if it showed any type of deformity.
2. At the age of seven, male children were taken from their parents and trained
as soldiers.
a. Endured harsh physical training designed to make them used to suffering
and hardship until 18 years of age.
3. Girls still lived at home but boys lived away from parents.
Sparta: A Military Dictatorship
C. Slave labor
1. Spartan citizens were not allowed by law to engage in work or trade.
2. State-owned slaves, called Helots, worked the land.
3. Freeman from neighboring city-states carried out manufacturing and commerce.
Spartan men lived off the work of
Helots so that they could devote their
entire life to being a soldier.
Athens: Home of Greek Democracy and Culture
I. Athens: Home of Greek Democracy and Culture.
A. Athens and Greek Democracy
1. Athens was a busy center of manufacturing and commerce.
2. Education was very important in Ancient Athens.
3. A peaceful city-state.
II. Pericles (461 B.C. to 429 B.C.)
A. A very popular and well-liked leader of Athens.
B. He beautified Athens and constructed exquisite temples.
1. The Parthenon on the Acropolis (hill).
C. Introduced democratic reforms, which benefited all.
D. Pericles encouraged the arts.
1. Writers, artists, sculptors, poets, musicians, and philosophers.
Pericles
Athens
Athens: Home of Greek Democracy and Culture
Milestones of Athenian Democracy
Sparta & Athens Diagram
Sparta & Athens (Venn Diagram)
Persian Wars
I. Persian Wars (499 B.C. to 479 B.C.)
A. The Cause of the Persian War.
1. Persia (Modern day Iran) wanted to stop the expansion of the Greek Empire.
Persian & Greek Alliances Map:
Greek Battle Uniform
Greek Battle: Phalanx
Greek Battle: Phalanx
1st Persian War
II. Highlights of the Persian War.
A. The Persian War united all of Greece.
1. Sparta and Athens, bitter rivals, united to fight the Persians.
B. King Darius of Persia led the Persian invasion of Greece in 490 B.C.
1. The invasion was repulsed at the Battle of Marathon.
2. Persia was forced to retreat.
King Darius
1st Persian War: Battle of Marathon
Battle of Marathon:
Supposedly, a messenger
(Pheidippides) ran about 25
miles, from Marathon to
Athens, to announce the
defeat of the Persians. At the
end of the march he died of
exhaustion.
2nd Persian War: Thermopylae
I. In 480 B.C., Xerxes (son of Darius) led an invasion of Greece with the Persian
army and navy.
A. Persian army of over 20,000 soldiers met the Spartan army of 300 under the
leadership of King Leonidas at Thermopylae.
1. Spartan army was massacred and panic spread through Greece and
Athens was threatened.
a. However, King Leonidas and the Spartan army’s heroic last stand delayed
the Persian advance and allowed the other Greek city-states to unify.
2nd Persian War: Salamis
II. The Athenian navy lured the Persian navy into battle at Salamis.
A. The Athenians decisively defeated the Persians.
1. The Persian Army was forced to retreat from Greece.
Xerxes, the king of Persia
during the second invasion
of Greece, watched the
Battle of Salamis from a
cliff side.
Overview: 1st & 2nd Persian Wars Map
2nd Persian War: Aftermath
B. Athens emerged as the leader of the Greek city-states.
1. Delian League was formed.
a. Led by Athens, it provided for the common defense of Greece.
C. Sparta became jealous and withdrew from the league.
1. Sparta felt that she should be the leader.
2. Sparta and her allies formed the Peloponnesian League to counter the
Delian League.
Peloponnesian Wars
I. Peloponnesian Wars (459 B.C. to 404 B.C.)
A. Sparta became jealous of Athenian culture, prosperity, and trade leadership
after the Persian War.
B. Sparta and Athens go to war to resolve the leadership of Greece.
1. Athens had the strongest navy, but a weak army.
2. Sparta had a weak navy, but a powerful army.
C. After fifty years of fighting, Sparta finally defeated the Athenian navy
at Aegospotami in 404 B.C.
D. Sparta became the new leader of Greece. (404 B.C. to 371 B.C.)
1. Abolished all democratic reforms throughout Greece.
E. In 371 B.C., Sparta was defeated by Thebes, another Greek city-state.
1. Sparta's harsh dictatorship came to an end.
Hellenistic Period (350 B.C. to 146 B.C.)
I. Hellenistic Period (350 B.C. to 146 B.C.)
A. Years preceding the Roman conquest of Ancient Greece.
B. The cultures of Ancient Greece and the Orient were mixed.
C. Greek leadership during the Hellenistic Period.
1. King Philip of Macedon (356 B.C. to 336 B.C.)
a. Defeated Greece and united it with Macedon.
b. Philip planned to invade Persia, but was assassinated, while attending
his daughter’s wedding.
1b. The assassination was plotted by his wife, Olympias.
King Philip of Macedon
Many scholars suspect to this day that the assassination of King Philip of Macedon by agents of his wife,
Olympias, to elevate their son, the future "Alexander the Great" to the thrones of Macedon and Greece was
a successful conspiracy. "Alexander the Great", himself, continues to be a suspect in the murder of Philip,
his own father, in his ascension to the throne.
Alexander the Great
II. Alexander the Great (336 B.C. to 323 B.C.)
A. Son of King Philip of Macedon.
B. Put down uprisings in Greek cities after his father's death.
C. Conquered Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, and northern India.
D. The city of Alexandria, Egypt became the capital of Alexander's empire.
E. Alexander the Great died of fever in 323 B.C. at the age of 33.
1. Alexander the Great's empire collapsed soon after his death.
The Conquest of Alexander the Great
Conquest of Alexander the Great: Map
Results of the Hellenistic Period
III. Results of the Hellenistic Period.
A. Cultural fusion
1. East (Orient) met the West (Greece)
2. Improvements in science, health and welfare, and the arts developed.
Understanding Greek Culture
I. Religion of the Greeks
A. Religion was a very important part of everyday life.
B. The Ancient Greeks worshipped nature (Pantheism)
1. Greek gods represented forces of nature, but had human traits.
a. The gods were feared rather than loved.
2. Gods resided on top of Mount Olympus.
a. Zeus, the father of all gods.
b. Hera, his wife, the goddess of fertility.
c. Poseidon, god of the seas.
d. Athena, goddess of wisdom (most beloved)
e. Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.
Mount Olympus
Greek Gods and Goddesses
Hera, Zeus’ wife and the
goddess of fertility. She
was very jealous of Zeus’
many affairs with mortal
women
Zeus, the father of
all gods
Athena, goddess
of wisdom. She
was most beloved
of all the gods.
Aphrodite,
goddess of love
and beauty.
Poseidon, god of the seas.
Achievements of Ancient Greece: Theater & Arts
I. Achievements in literature.
A. Poetry
B. Theater- dramas and comedies
C. History
D. Oratory
Achievements of Ancient Greece: Science
II. Achievements in Science and Greek scientists.
A. Pythhagoras- concluded the earth was round.
B. Hippocrates- diseases were the result of natural causes and not by demons.
C. Aristarchus- proved the earth rotates on its axis and moves around the sun.
D. Strabo- wrote the first geography book.
E. Herophilus- dissected the human body and discovered that blood ran through
the body via arteries.
F. Archimedes- gave the world the principles of the pulley and the screw and
lever.
Hippocrates- He said that diseases
were the result of natural causes
and not by demons or cast upon
humans by the gods as many
ancient Greeks believed.
Archimedes- gave the world
the principles of the pulley and
the screw and lever.
Achievements of Ancient Greece: Philosophy
III. Philosophy
A. Socrates (469 B.C. to 399 B.C.)
1. Question all things as a way of arriving at the truth.
2. Socrates was put to death for questioning the institutions & ideas of his time.
B. Plato (427 B.C. to 347 B.C.)
1. Pupil of Socrates
2. Urged people to seek perfection in what they thought and did.
C. Aristotle (384 B.C. to 322 B.C.)
1. Pupil of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great.
2. Aristotle's teachings in psychology, botany, logic, politics, and biology were
authoritative for hundreds of years.
The Death of Socrates
Plato & Aristotle
Achievements of Ancient Greece: Architecture
IV. Greek Art
A. Architecture
1. Temples made of marble
2. Three styles of columns were designed.
a. Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
Achievements of Ancient Greece: Sculpture
V. Sculpture
A. Masters at sculpting the human form.
B. Skilled at representing violent emotions.
Terms to Know:
City-States
Limited Monarchies
Oligarchies
Limited Democracies
Sparta
Helots
Athens
Pericles
Parthenon
Acropolis
Persia & Persian Wars
Phalanx
King Darius
Marathon, Battle of
Xerxes
King Leonidas
Thermopylae, Battle of
Salamis, Battle of
Delian League
Peloponnesian League
Peloponnesian War
Aegospotami
Thebes
Hellenistic Period
King Philip of Macedon
Alexander the Great
Alexandria, Egypt
Cultural Fusion
Pantheism
Mount Olympus
Zeus
Hera
Poseidon
Athena
Aphrodite
Pythhagoras
Hippocrates
Aristarchus
Strabo
Herophilus
Archimedes
Philosophy
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Doric
Ionic
Corinthian
Concepts to Know:
•Describe the geography of Greece and how it helped civilization develop.
•Explain the reasons for the lack of Greek unity?
•Describe the some of the developments in government in ancient Greece.
•Describe Spartan society.
•Describe Athenian society.
•What were some of the similarities and differences between Sparta and Athens?
•Explain the First Persian War. What were its results?
•Explain the Second Persian War. What were its results?
•What was the Peloponnesian War and why was it fought?
•What was the Hellenistic Period? Who was King Philip of Macedon?
•Describe the accomplishments of Alexander the Great.
•Describe the religion of ancient Greece. Who were some of the ancient Greek gods &
goddesses?
•Describe some of the major achievements in literature of ancient Greece.
•Describe some of the major achievements in science of ancient Greece.
•Describe some of the major achievements in philosophy of ancient Greece.
•Describe some of the major achievements in architecture of ancient Greece.