ANCIENT
GREECE
VOCABULARY TERMS- ANCIENT GREECE
1.
Define the following terms: shrine, fresco, strait,
polis, acropolis, citizen, monarchy, aristocracy,
oligarchy, phalanx, democracy, tyrant, legislature,
alliance, direct democracy, stipend, jury, ostracism,
philosopher, logic, rhetoric, tragedy, comedy,
assassination, assimilate, heliocentric
2.
Locate and identify on a map- Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Italy, Crete,
Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea, Black Sea, Sparta, Athens, Troy,
Byzantium and Carthage (p.119 and 1140)
Ancient Greece
Geography
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Balkan Peninsula
Aegean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Asia Minor
Mild Climate
Mountains, fertile plains, fine harbors
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Isolation
No unity but a shared language
The Minoans (c. 2500-1400 B.C.)
 Crete
 Archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans
 King Minos
 Minoan demise and Mycenaean attack?
Fresco painting
Ancient Greece
The Mycenaeans (c. 1400-1100 B.C.)
 Indo-Europeans from central Asia (c. 2000 B.C.)
 Intermarried with the natives in Greece, the Hellenes
 Established kingdoms with fortified palaces
 Adopted elements of Minoan culture
 Fighting between the kingdoms and demise
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The Dorian Migration (c. 1200-1000 B.C.)
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The Dorians were a Greek-speaking people
Mounted warriors with iron weapons v. charioteers with bronze weapons
Gradual development of a new political order in Greece
The Dark Age (1100-750 B.C.)
 Relocation of many Greeks to the islands across the Aegean Sea
and Ionia
 Reduction in trade and decline in skills such as writing and craft
making
 Iron replaced bronze for making weapons
 Adoption of the Phoenician alphabet
Hellenic Culture (750 -336 B.C.)
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
 Epics
 Homer, 8th Century B.C.?
 the City of Troy
 Synopsis: Paris, Helen, Menelaus, Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector
 Odysseus
The Trojan War
The Iliad and Odyssey and Greek Society
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taught children virtues
considered to be history
Religion of Ancient Greece
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Greek deities were believed to control all forces in the
physical world
Greeks believed people were servants to the gods
Greek gods had human attributes
Main gods of the Greek pantheon:
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First Olympic Games, 776 B.C.
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GREEK MYTHOLOGY (7:20)
In Ancient Greece, life was centered around the city-state, or polis. The polis
became the dominant political unit in Greece after about 800 B.C. The polis
was where the Greeks met “for political, social, and religious activities.”
The development of the Greek city-States falls into four main chronological periods:
1. Formative Greek Period- 1100 B.C. to 800 B.C. – the Greeks were consolidating
their control over the areas taken from the pres-existing Aegean peoples (i.e.,
the Mycenaean). It was during this period that the early city-states began to
take shape.
2.
Age of Colonization- 800 B.C. to 600 B.C. – the Greek city-states grew strong
enough and ambitious enough to expand beyond Aegean.
3.
Golden Age of Ancient Greece- 600 B.C. to 400 B.C. - It was during this period
that the Greek city-states reached their height of economic, social, political,
and cultural achievement.
4.
The Decline of Greece- After 400 B.C. the political institutions eroded; however,
Greek culture continued to endure and flourish in the Mediterranean area and
beyond.
In the later part of the fourth century B.C., the Greek city-states lost their full
independence and became part of the Macedonian Empire created by
Alexander the Great. In the about 133 B.C., Greece became part of Rome.
Political Developments in Ancient Greece
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Monarchy (hereditary ruler exercising central power)
Aristocracy (hereditary landowning elite)
Oligarchy (rule by the few)
Plutocracy (rule by the wealthy few)
Tyrant (one who acquires political office by force )
Democracy (rule by the many, rule by the people)
Greek Phalanx
Greek Colonization
Beginning
around 750 B.C.
Population increase after the
“dark ages”
Farmers were unable to keep
up with the demand for food
Farmers were sent throughout
the Mediterranean to establish
colonies
Change in economy
Change in politics
Change in battle
Greek City States
 polis,
or city-state
 acropolis
 agora
 citizens
Athens and Sparta
Sparta
 Society
1.
2.
3.
Spartans (Spartiatai)- ruling class of soldiers
Perioikoi- farmers, merchants, and craftsmen
Helots- slaves and farm laborers
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 Life
Laconians and Messenians
of a Spartan man
 14
to 20 years old
 20 to 30 years old
 At 30 years old
 60 years
 Spartan
Women
 Spartan Government
 Oligarchy-
Ephors, Council of Elders
 Sparta was a society based on fear
Athens and Sparta
SPARTAN WARRIORS (4:40)
Athens and Sparta
Athens
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early monarchies (1200-800 B.C.)
oligarchy (800s B.C.)
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economic problems, discontent among the lower classes,
insurrection against the wealthy aristocrats
Solon (594 B.C.)
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reform-minded aristocrat
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Cancelled land debts
Freed those placed into slavery for debt
Continued discontent
Pisistratus (tyrant)
Gained absolute control over Athens in 546 B.C.
 Pisistratus’ reforms
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Cleisthenes
Introduced democratic government into ancient Athens
 Ostracism
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Sparta was fearful of Athens. Why?
Herodotus (484-425 B.C.)
•Father of History
•History of the Persian Wars
Persian Wars (490 - 444 B.C.)
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1st Phase (490 B.C.)
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2nd Phase (481-479 B.C.)
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Darius
Battle of Marathon
Xerxes
200,000 troops and numerous
war vessels
Battle at Thermopylae
Athens abandoned
Battle of Salamis
Battle of Plataea
Delian League (478 B.C.)
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confederation of Greek states headed by Athens
defensive alliance against the Persians
Athens growth in power and the estrangement of member citystates
Persian Wars
The Battle at Salamis
Salamis
Parthenon in Athens
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Pericles (c.461-429 B.C.)
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The Peloponnesian Wars (431- 404 B.C.)
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Athens’ hegemony and foreign policy
Sparta’s Peloponnesian League (anti-Athenian)
Conflict between Athens and Sparta
Athenians declared unconditional surrender in 411 B.C.
Sparta and Persia
Athens defeated trying to subdue Syracuse
Athens forced to surrender to its enemies
Destruction of Athens in 404 B.C.
Thucydides (460-400 B.C.)
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Great Athenian orator and statesman
History of the Peloponnesian War
Spartan Hegemony (404- c.370 B.C.)
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Decline in adult males
Spartan population reduced significantly by the time of
Alexander the Great
Greek Philosophy and Science
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Socrates (470-399 B.C.)
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Plato (428 -347 B.C.)
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Athenian philosopher
established the Socratic method of questioning
sentenced to die for corrupting Athenian youth
student of Socrates
The Republic
The Academy
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
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student of Plato
stressed observation and investigation
Alexander the Great
Lyceum
ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY (5:20)
ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE HELLENISTIC AGE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Who was Philip II to Alexander the Great?
What was the extent of Alexander’s empire, and why
was he able to conquer such an extensive area?
What does assimilation mean and how does it apply to
the Hellenistic period?
What were some of the cultural achievements of the
Hellenistic period?
What new ideas did the Stoics introduce?
What happened to Greece in 133 B.C.?
Power shift from the Greeks to the
Macedonians
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Hegemony shifted from Sparta to Thebes
Philip II of Macedon as hostage to Thebes
Philip II of Macedonia (359-336 B.C.)
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Royalty of Macedonia, honorary Greeks
Changes made to Macedonian military
1.
2.
3.
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Macedonian spears lengthened (phalanx form.)
Developed an engineering corps to travel with his
army
Rapid expansion; cities taken by rapid siege
Battle of Chaeronea- subjugation of Greece
Marriage to Olympias of Epirus (neither Greek
nor Macedonian)
Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.)
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Alexander’s self-proclaimed lineage
Alexander’s early life
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Age 5
Learned military skills from father’s leading soldiers
 Maintained a positive relationship with his father’s army
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Age 13
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Age 16
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Aristotle hired to tutor Alexander
Gained command of Macedonia’s light infantry
Age 18
Major break with his father, Philip II
 Alexander temporarily exiled
 Philip II assassinated and Alexander became the king of Macedonia at
the age of 20 (336 B.C.)
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Alexander’s Conquests
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Intended to fulfill his father’s goals to unite all of Greece under
Macedonia
Conquered the territories of Thrace across the Danube River
Suppressed a revolt in Thebes
Alexander and the conquest of Persia
The Gordian Knot in Phrygia
 Darius III and the Battle of Issus (333 B.C.)
 Accepted in Egypt as a deliverer from Persian domination (City of
Alexandria)
 Alexander then marched his army to Mesopotamia to find Darius III
 Susa
 330 B.C. Persepolis (capital of the Persian Empire; the city was burned to
the ground) Revenge for the Persian destruction of Athens in 480 B.C.?
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Ultimately Darius was killed by two of his own generals.
The Empire of Alexander the Great
Final Conquests

By 327 B.C., Alexander extended his empire into
Bactria (modern-day Afghanistan and Turkmenistan)
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Alexander married the Bactrian princess Roxane
In a fit of rage Alexander killed his childhood mentor and
close friend Clitus
In 326 B.C., Alexander and his army crossed the Indus
River into India.
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Alexander’s troops refused to go any further
Alexander died of a fever in 323 B.C. He was 33 years old.
The dissolution of Alexander’s empire
 nine
year regency
 Empire split between Alexander’s generals
 Egypt-
Ptolemy
 Macedonia- Antigonus
 Asia Minor and Syria- Seleucids

Hellenistic Age
Hellenistic- “to imitate Greeks”
ALEXANDER THE GREAT (5:38)