Social Studies
Chapter 8
By: Brittney Paradis
Lesson 1
Cycladic Culture
 The Cyclades are a group of about 200 islands located east of the
Greek mainland in the southern Aegean Sea. In about 3000 B.C. the
Cycladic culture began on these islands.
 Most Cycladic people made their living by fishing and trading, and
others were farmers who grew grapes, olives, and other crops.
 Today, all that is known about the Cycladic culture and its people
comes from studying artifacts. Many questions cant be answered
because of this.
 After about 2000 B.C. the Cycladic culture
began to weaken.
Lesson 1
Minoan Culture
 The Minoan culture began on the island of Crete in about 2700 B.C.
 Minos, the King of Crete, named the culture Minoan.
 The Minoan culture began as an agricultural society.
 In about 2000 B.C. the Minoans began to build large, richly decorated
palaces. The largest palace was at Knossos. It stood three stories high
and covered an area about the size of three football fields.
 The Minoans had both a counting system and a writing system for
keeping records of their trade.
 By the 1100 B.C. the Minoan culture had
disappeared.
Lesson 1
Mycenaean Culture
 The Mycenaean culture takes its name from the city of Mycenae. The city
was located on the large southern peninsula of Greece called the
Peloponnesus.
 By the 1500s B.C. the Mycenaeans had become the dominant culture in the
area.
 As a result of trading, the Mycenaeans learned Minoan ways and adapted
them to fit their own culture. They borrowed Minoan art styles and writing.
The Mycenaeans adapted the writing to suit their own language, an early
form of Greek.
 In about 1200 B.C. The Mycenaeans culture suddenly came to an end. A
large earthquake destroyed many Mycenaean settlements. Some people
rebuilt their homes,
some moved away.
Lesson 1 Trojan Culture
 The Trojan culture was centered in the ancient city of Troy, in Asia Minor.
 The Trojans farmed, raised horses, and herded sheep. They also traded with the
Mycenaeans and other cultures.
 Most historians believed that the Mycenaeans invaded and destroyed Troy around
1250 B.C. For ten years the Mycenaeans tried to capture the city of Troy. The high
stone walls of Troy seemed impossible to break through. Odysseus workers built a
huge, wooden horse. When the horse was finished, some Mycenaean soldiers hid
inside it. The Mycenaeans left the horse at the gates of the Troy, the boarded their
ships, and pretended to leave. Believing the horse to be a peace offering, the Trojans
pulled it into their city. That night the Mycenaean soldiers crawled out of their hiding
place. They opened the city gates and let the
rest of the Mycenaean army. By morning they
had defeated the Trojans and burned down the
city of Troy.
Lesson 2
Rise of the City-States
 The making of Classical Greek civilization began with the rise of the city-states.
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City-states were formed as people living in neighboring villages joined to protect
themselves from outside dangers.
Many of the groups built walled forts for safety during enemy attacks. Each fort
usually was built on a acropolis, or a hilltop.
Over time, villages grew into cities around the acropolis. Houses, public buildings,
and an open-air market called, an agora, stood below the acropolis.
Most city-states were located in coastal areas and had economies based on trade.
Neighboring city-states often fought over lands that lay between them. As a result of
the struggles, some city-states grew in importance and size.
Among the best-known and most powerful Greek
city-states were Athens and Sparta. Over time, these
town city-states developed very different economies
and governments.
Lesson
2
Athens
 The city-states of Athens was located on Attica.
 After the Dark age, Athens was ruled by an aristocracy.
 In 594 B.C. the Athenians asked a leader named, Solon to make changes, in their
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government, because sometimes the leaders struggle with one another for control
of the city-states, so Solon divided them into classes.
Each year, a drawing was held to select a council of 500 male citizens. The council
suggested laws for the assembly and decided on government policies. A policy is a
plan of action
In 508 B.C. more reforms made the Athenian
city-state into the world’s first democracy.
Immigrants and slaves, both male and female,
were not allowed to take part in the government.
Most Athenian slaves were people from the
neighboring areas who had been captured
in a war. Athenian slaves were owned by
private citizens. They can be sold or bought as property.
Lesson 2
Sparta
 The city-state of Sparta had a island location from the Peloponnesian Peninsula. Its
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inland location caused Sparta to develop a military economy.
Sparta used a governing system known as oligarchy. In an oligarchy, a few people
from the ruling class make decisions for everyone.
Spartan society was made up of three classes.
Only the men in the ruling class were considered Spartan citizen.
The Dorians had enslaved the people already living in the area. These slaves
formed the second and largest class in the Spartan society.
People in the lower class outnumbered Spartan
citizens by as much as ten to one. This caused
citizens to fear the lower classes.
Fear of rebellion from within and attack from
outside led the Spartan citizens to focus on
their military.
Lesson
2
To
be
Greek
 Since the city-states were independent, people did not think of themselves as
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belonging to a country as Americans do. The different city-states had a cultural
identity or connection with one another. Over time, this common cultural identity
helped think of themselves as a single civilization.
The Olympic games were held every four years to honor Zeus. The ancient games
were held from about 776 B.C. to A.D. 393.
Writing helped bring the city-states together. In the 700 B.C. the Greeks developed
a writing system based on the one used by the Phoenician traders.
The word alphabet comes from the names of the two first two Greek letters, alpha
and beta.
A common mythology, religion, activities, and
language, helped unite the Greeks as a people.
It also set them apart from others living in the
Mediterranean region.
The Greeks called anyone who could not speak
Greek a barbarian.
Lesson 3 The Persian Wars
 For hundreds of years the Greek city-states fought over land and trade.
 During the 500 B.C. century, Persia built a huge empire that included Assyria,
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Babylonia, Egypt, and the Greek city-states in Asia Minor.
Citizens-soldiers from Athens met a larger Persian force on the plain of Marathon, not
far from Athens. Even though the Persians had more soldiers, well-trained Athenians
managed to defeat them in just one day of fighting.
In 480 B.C. the Persians invaded the Balkan Peninsula. At this time Xerxes, the son of
David I, attacked by land and sea.
Greeks formed a league to protect themselves. A league is a group of allies.
After the Persian Wars, Athens made new allies.
City-states from Attica, Asia Minor, and some of
the Aegean Islands joined Athens to form a Delian
League.
Lesson 3
The Age of Pericles
 After the defeat of the Persians, the Athenians felt great pride in their new leadership
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position. During much of this time, Athens was led by Pericles, a member of the citystate’s wealthy ruling class.
Pericles was a relative of Cleisthenes, the Athenian leader who had taken governing
authority away from the aristocracy and given it to the city-state’s assembly.
In about 460 B.C. Pericles was elected as a leader in the Athenian government. Over
the next few years, he made many important changes.
At first, only elected officials were paid. In time, all government officials both elected
and appointed received pay.
In 457 B.C. Pericles gave male citizens of any class the right to hold nearly any
government office.
Pericles believed that every male citizens, not just
wealthy citizens , had a right to take part in the government.
Lesson 3 Achievements of the golden Age
 Pericles supported writers, such as Herodotus, an early historian. Herodotus
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explained that he wrote a history of the Persian Wars to record “the astonishing
achievements of our own and of other peoples.” Even today many people still read
the works of Herodotus and of other writers of the Golden Age.
Aristophanes chose to write comedies. His comedies usually made fun of political
leaders or ideas that he did not agree with.
One of the great scientists of Greek was Hippocrates. He showed that illness came
from natural causes. Many people at that time believed that illnesses were
punishments for angering the gods.
Hippocrates wrote rules of behavior for doctors, and that is perhaps why he is best
remembered. Today doctors still follow these rules.
Sophocles wrote tragedies with unhappy endings.
During the Golden Age, scientists studied nature
and human life. Some of their findings changed
the way that people viewed their world.
Lesson 3 The End of the Golden Age
 Pericles wanted to make Athens a powerful city-state,
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so the soldiers were sent to conquer lands in Egypt.
In 431 B.C. Sparta and its allies in the Peloponnesian League went to war against
Athens and its allies.
In 430 B.C. plague deadly disease, broke out and spread quickly through the city. Many
people died, including one-fourth of the Athenian army and Pericles himself.
For the next 27 years, the two leagues (Sparta and Athens) fought each other. The
Athenian navy defended the Athens. Without the wise leadership of Pericles, the
members of the Athenian assembly began to follow demagogues. A demagogue is a
leader who stirs up the feeling and fears of people to gain personal power.
In 404 B.C. Athens surrendered to Sparta. Sparta
quickly replaced the Athenian democracy with
an oligarchy like its own. However, the Athenians
soon rebelled, or resists authority, and for a time
Athens was a democracy once again.
Lesson 3
The Greek Philosophers
 One of the philosophers, Socrates, called himself the city’s “gadfly,” after an insect that
bites horses and makes them jump.
 Socrates used criticism of the government to “sting” Athenians into thinking about life and
the best way to live it. Criticism would be more welcome in Pericles’ day, but instead it
annoyed the leaders of Athens
 In 399 B.C. an Athenian court found Socrates guilty of teaching dangerous ideas to the
city’s young people. The court ordered Socrates to end his own life by drinking poison.
Even though his family and friends wanted him to live, but Socrates felt that it is important
to obey the law so he drank the poison.
 One of Socrates’ students was Plato, he said that
a ruler should be a person of good character or
someone who is wise. He believed it was possible
to become a good ruler by studying hard and by loving
wisdom. He felt that philosophers would make the best
rulers.
Lesson 4 The Making of an Emperor
 Alexander was born in 356 B.C. in Macedonia. His father was Philip II, a Macedonian
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who had spent of his boyhood Geek lands. His mother, Olympia, was Greek. Both
parents wanted to pass on to their son their love of Greek culture. To do this, his
parents hired the Greek philosopher Aristotle to be Alexander’s teacher.
Alexander ‘s schooling ended at age 16, when his father
called him away to fight in the army.
His father taught him to be a fearless warrior.
In 338 B.C. 18-year-old Alexander commanded the cavalry, or soldiers who fought on
horseback, in Philip’s army. The Battle of Chaeronea brought most of the Greek
peninsula under Macedonia control.
Philip next prepared to invade the Persian Empire in Asia, but before he could do so, he
was killed by one of his bodyguards.
In 336 B.C. Philip’s rule passed to Alexander, then 20 years
old. In 335 B.C. Alexander’s army attacked the rebelling
Greek city of Thebes and destroyed it. About 30,000 people
in the city were sold into slavery.
Lesson 4
The Building of an Empire
 In 334 B.C. Alexander led an army of more than 35,000 soldiers from southern Europe to Asia
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Minor, and won and it gave him more wealth and glory.
One by one, Alexander conquered the cities along the coast of Asia Minor.
A famous legend tells about Alexander’s adventures in Gordium. King Gordius had tied a
difficult knot to his chariot, stating that whoever untied it would rule all of Asia. When
Alexander arrived, he cut the Gordian knot with his sword and was crowned king of the city.
By 333 B.C. Alexander and his army had reached the coast of Syria. From there they marched
south into Phoenicia to capture its port cities. Alexander had difficulty taking the port of Tyre
because it was on an island about one-half mile offshore.
A legend says that Alexander ordered workers to build a causeway, or land bridge, out to the
island. This changed the island into a peninsula, which it remains today. After seven months of
fighting, the people of Tyre surrendered in 332 B.C.
Lesson 4
The Building of an Empire
 Alexander went to Egypt, which was under Persian control.
They greeted him warmly because they were thankful to be free from Persian rule. They
crowned Alexander as their Pharaoh.
 When Alexander went to Gaugamela, Alexander defeated the much larger Persian army and
forced the emperor, Darius III, to flee.
 Next, Alexander captured the Persian cities of Babylon and Persepolis. By 330 B.C. Alexander
and his army moved north toward the Caspian Sea to find Darius. The once-mighty Persian
emperor had lost so much power that he was killed by members of his own court. With the
death of Darius, Alexander became the most powerful ruler in southwestern Asia. He began to
be called Alexander the Great.
Lesson 4
The End of the Empire
 Alexander the Great ruled a wide area, but he wanted still more lands.
 While he was in Bactria, Alexander married the Bactria princess Roxane.
 In 326 B.C. Alexander and his army were on the move again. They reached the upper Indus
River, and Alexander planned to push on from there to the Ganges River. However, his
weary soldiers refused to follow him. Disappointed, Alexander ordered his army to return
home.
 By the time he reached Babylon, Alexander was already planning new expeditions. He
wanted to lead the journeys deeper into northern Africa and the into the Arabian Peninsula.
 However, in 323 B.C. Alexander became seriously ill with a fever. He died shortly before
his thirty-third birthday.
 No leader proved strong enough to replace Alexander the Great. His empire quickly split
into many parts, the largest of which were Egypt, Macedonia, and Syria.
Lesson 4 Alexander’s Legacy
 Alexander the Great and his army came into contact with many different cultures.
 Many of the conquered people learned to speak and write in Greek and to follow
Greek customs. The period of Alexander’s rule and several centuries after his death
are known as the Hellenistic Age. Like the Golden Age, the Hellenistic Age was a
time of achievement.
 As Alexander the Great spread his empire, he built new cities. Many of them were
named Alexandria in his honor. The cities became centers of learning and helped
spread Greek culture. In time, Alexandria, Egypt, equaled Athens as a center of
Greek culture.