Classical Civilizations in the
Mediterranean:
Greece and Rome
By: Susan M. Pojer
Horace Greeley H.S. Chappaqua, NY
Reorganized and edited by Bobbie Clark
The Geography of Greece
The Geography of Rome
Bronze Age Greece
Crete: Minoan Civilization
(Palace at Knossos)
Knossos: Minoan Civilization
Minoan Civilization
The Mycenaean Civilization
Homer: The “Heroic Age”
The Mask of Agamemnon
Italy in 750 BCE
Influence of the Etruscans
 Writing
 Religion
 The Arch
The Mythical Founding of
Rome:
Romulus & Remus
ATHENS: Yesterday & Today
Piraeus: Athens’ Port City
Early Athenian Lawgivers
$ Draco
 “draconian”
$ Solon
$ Cleisthenes
 created the first
democracy!
Persian Wars: 499 BCE – 480 BCE
Persian Wars: Famous Battles
$ Marathon (490 BCE)
 26 miles from Athens
$ Thermopylae (480 BCE)
 300 Spartans at the
Mountain pass
$ Salamis (480 BCE)
 Athenian navy victorious
Golden “Age of Pericles”:
460 BCE – 429 BCE
Great Athenian Philosophers
$ Socrates
 Know thyself!
 question everything
 only the pursuit of goodness
brings happiness.
$ Plato
 The Academy
 The world of the FORMS
 The Republic  philosopher-king
Great Athenian Philosophers
$ Aristotle
 The Lyceum
 “Golden Mean” [everything in
moderation].
 Logic.
 Scientific method.
Athens: The Arts & Sciences
$ DRAMA (tragedians):

Aeschylus

Sophocles

Euripides
$ THE SCIENCES:

Pythagoras

Democritus  all matter made up of
small atoms.

Hippocrates  “Father of Medicine”
Phidias’ Acropolis
The Acropolis Today
The Parthenon
The Agora
The Classical Greek “Ideal”
Olympia
The Ancient Olympics:
Athletes & Trainers
Olympia: Temple to Hera
The 2004 Olympics
SPARTA
SPARTA
Helots  Messenians enslaved by the
Spartans.
Peloponnesian Wars
Macedonia Under Philip II
Republican Government
2 Consuls
(Rulers of Rome)
Senate
(Representative body for patricians)
Tribal Assembly
(Representative body for plebeians)
The Twelve Tables, 450 BCE
 Providing political and social
rights for the plebeians.
The Roman Forum
Rome’s Early Road System
Roman Roads:
The Appian Way
The Roman Colosseum
The Colosseum Interior
The Colosseum Interior
Circus Maximus
Carthaginian Empire
Hannibal’s Route
Reform Leaders
 Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
•
the poor should be given grain
and small plots of free land.
Military Reformer
 Gaius Marius
•
recruited an army from the poor
and homeless.
•
professional standing army.
Civil War & Dictators
Julius Caesar
Pompey
Crossing the Rubicon, 49 BC
The Die is Cast!
The First Triumvirate
 Julius Caesar
 Marcus Licinius Crassus
 Gaius Magnus Pompey
Beware the Ides of March!
44 BCE
The Second Triumvirate
 Octavian Augustus
 Marc Antony
 Marcus Lepidus
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great’s Empire
Alexander the Great in Persia
The Hellenization of Asia
Pergamum: A Hellenistic City
The Economy of the Hellenistic World
Hellenistic Philosophers
$ Cynics  Diogenes
 ignore social conventions &
avoid luxuries.
 citizens of the world.
 live a humble, simple life.
$ Epicurians  Epicurus
 avoid pain & seek pleasure.
 all excess leads to pain!
 politics should be avoided.
Hellenistic Philosophers
$ Stoics  Zeno
 nature is the expansion of
divine will.
 concept of natural law.
 get involved in politics, not
for personal gain, but to
perform virtuous acts for the
good of all.
 true happiness is found in
great achievements.
Hellenism: The Arts & Sciences
$ Scientists / Mathematicians:
 Aristarchus  heliocentric theory.
 Euclid  geometry
 Archimedes  pulley
$ Hellenistic Art:
 More realistic; less ideal than
Hellenic art.
 Showed individual emotions,
wrinkles, and age!
The Breakup of Alexander’s Empire
Octavian Augustus:
Rome’s First Emperor
The First Roman
Dynasty
Pax Romana: 27 BCE – 180 CE
The Greatest Extent of the
Roman Empire – 14 CE
The Rise of Christianity
St. Paul:
Apostle to the Gentiles
The Spread of Christianity
Imperial Roman Road System
Diocletian Splits the
Empire in Two: 294 CE
Constantine: 312 - 337
Constantinople: “The 2nd
Rome” (Founded in 330)
Barbarian Invasions: 4c-5c
Attila the Hun:
“The Scourge of God”
Byzantium:
The Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire
During the Reign of Justinian
The Byzantine Emperor
Justinian
The Legacy of Rome
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Republic Government
Roman Law
Latin Language
Roman Catholic Church
City Planning
Romanesque Architectural Style
Roman Engineering
• Aqueducts
• Sewage systems
• Dams
• Cement
• Arch
Rome vs. Greece
• 1. Mighty empire vs. inept/Greek
city-states
• 2. Mastered engineering vs.
scientific thought
• 3. Western Europe-Greco Roman vs.
Eastern Europe- Greek influence
• 4. Shared- political ideas, religion,
artistic styles, and economic
structures
Religion
• Christianity spread, but not a
product of Christian/Roman Culture
• Greco-Roman religion-nature>gods
and goddesses
• Different names/interacted
w/mortals/whims/soap opera
• God Stories used to illustrate
human passions- literature
Economy and Society
• Difficulty Farming
• Merchants- better than Chinese
• Slavery- key component to
agriculture and military expansion
• Behind India and China in
technology
• Not as bad for women as China
Shout Out to the Persians
• 550 BCE Cyrus the Great- massive
Persian Empire across Middle East
• Tolerant of local customs
• Advanced iron technology
• Zoroastrianism
• Artistic lifestyle
• Conquered by Alexander the Great
• Persian language and culture survived in
the 20th Century