Beginnings
I. Aegean Area
I. ¾ mountains, ¼ agriculture
II. Mountains protected and isolated
III.City-states never united in Gov't
IV.Made living by the sea
V. Mild Mediterranean climate
II. Aegean Civilizations
A. Minoan Civ. 2500-1450B.C.
1. Island of Crete
B. Heroic Age1400-1100 B.C.
1. Mycenaeans From central Asia
2. Used intermarriage for success
3. Defeated by Dorians
C. Dark Ages
1. 300 year period
2. No trade, skills lost, & poverty
D. Archaic Age 750-336 B.C.
1. Ionians created a “new” Greece
2. Reintroduced culture, crafts and
skills (Homer)
III. Poets & Heroes
A. Homer (700’s B.C.)
1. Blind man who composed two of
the most famous Greek epics
2. Iliad & Odyssey: Takes place
during and after the legendary
Trojan War
3. Ancient Greek schools use his
epics to teach values
TROJAN WAR
1194-1184BC
•City of Troy
•Paris of Troy
•Helen of Sparta
• Husband Menelaus
•War leader
Agamemnon
IV. A Family of Deities
A. Greek Religion explains why people
behaved the way they did
B. Greeks humanized their deities
C. 12 most important gods lived on
Mount Olympus
D. Religious festivals became part of
every day life: Olympics & Drama
The Polis
I. The Typical Polis
A. Greek word meaning city-state
B. City center with villages, fields,
and orchards
C. Temples located on top of acropolis
D. Citizens who were small in # had
rights and responsibilities
The Acropolis
Athens, Greece
II. Greek Colonies & Trade
A. Each polis had to send groups to
expand colonies for food
B. Quality trade was made between
colonies and its mainland polis
C. Money economy replaces barter
system
III. Political and Social Change
A. Economic growth changed Greek
political life…
1. No more kings
2. $ rules/aristocrats
B. Farmers rebelled against aristocrats
for political reform
C.Armies began to rely on foot soldiers
more than cavalry
1. Foot soldiers Hoplite: farmers
2. Cavalry: aristocrats
D.Due to unrest, tyrannies arose
1. One man rule
E.After tyrants:
1. Oligarchies v. Democracies
RIVALS
Sparta v. Athens
I. SPARTA
A. Descendants of the Dorian's
B. Conquered neighboring citystates
C. Created a military society
D. Life revolved around the army
E. Women treated like men
F. Women had more personal
freedoms but no Gov't.
G.Controlled subjects for 250 years
but fell behind in economics
II.ATHENS
A. Descendants of Mycenaean's
B. Unlike Sparta, Athens expanded
its definition of citizenship
C. Four rulers brought change
1. Draco
2. Solon
3. Pesistratus 4. Cleisthenes
III.ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
A. Constitution was created
B. The Assembly was major power
C. Members of the Council=500
D. Problem: only 15% of pop were
citizens
E. Public office required=education
WAR, GLORY, AND DECLINE
1.Reasons Ionians disliked Persians
a. Thought Persians were barbarians
b.Did not want to be controlled by
king of Persia
2. Why did Persians attack Greece
a. Greeks help Ionians rebel against
Persia
3. Name 2 Greek victories over Persia
a. Victory at Marathon
b.Battle of Thermopylae
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
c. Victory at Salamis
4. Four policies of Pericles (GOLDEN AGE)
a. Delian League’s $ to build
Parthenon
b.Criminal offenses tried only in
Athens
c. City-States must adopt Athenian
coinage
d.Used Athenian troops to support
revolts against aristocrats
5. Three factors of advantage for Sparta
over Athens in the Peloponnesian War.
a. Sparta received $ from Persia to
build its own naval fleet
b.A terrible plague weakened Athens
c. Many Athenian allies were traitors
and supported Sparta instead
Athens, 430 BCE
In 430 BCE, during
the Peloponnesian
War, the plague
broke out in the citystate of Athens.
Of the 100,000
people living inside
the city wall, 20,000
died of the plague.
Bodies were piled
high in the streets.
Pericles, the leader
of Athens, contracted
the plague.
He lived for one
year before dying.
Athens
Pericles
Greece
Athens
Egypt
Thucydides
According to the Greek historian Thucydides:
“The bodies of dying men lay one upon another, and halfdead creatures reeled about in the streets. The catastrophe
became so overwhelming that men cared nothing for any
rule of religion or law.”
Thucydides too contracted the plague, but survived.
He recorded the symptoms of the plague.
He claimed that it had come from Egypt.
6. Four effects of the Peloponnesian War
a. Population of city-states declined
b.Fields and orchards destroyed
c. Young men emigrated for
employment
d.Greeks lost ability to govern
themselves