GREECE
THE GREEK POLIS
SSWH3 The student will examine the political, philosophical, and cultural
interaction of Classical Mediterranean societies from 700 BCE to 400 CE.
a. Compare the origins and structure of the Greek polis, the Roman Republic, and the
Roman Empire.
b. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ANCIENT GREECE?
c. WHERE IS GREECE?
• The polis (plural, poleis) was the ancient Greek
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city-state.
The word politics comes from this Greek word.
In the ancient world, it was the central urban
area that could also have controlled the
surrounding countryside.
The word polis could also refer to the city's body
of citizens.
• Polis, literally means city in Greek.
• It could also mean citizenship and body of
citizens.
• In modern historiography "polis" is
normally used to indicate the ancient
Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and
its contemporaries
• polis is often translated as "city-state."
PARTS/ELEMENTS OF POLIS
• Self-governance, autonomy and independence
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(city-state)
Agora: the social hub and financial marketplace,
on and around a centrally located large open
space
Acropolis: the citadel
Greek urban planning and architecture, public,
religious, and private (see Hippodamian plan)
Temples, altars
• Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, etc.
• The polis began to emerge as a new form
of social and political organization in the
eighth century B.C.
• “Men are the Polis.”
-Thucydides
“Man is an animal whose nature it is to
live in a polis”
-Aristotle
• The period that the polis began to emerge can be
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considered not only as the time of recovery but also the
peak of Greek Civilization in terms of politics, society,
economy and culture.
Poleis were city-states established by the group of Greek
people who proudly termed themselves “Hellene”.
Independent and self governing; 30,000 to 300,000 in
population
All spoke Greek, believed in the pantheon of gods,
practiced forms of government, and had the same
culture.
TWO FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
• OLIGARCHY
• RULE BY THE FEW
• DEMOCRACY
• RULE BY THE PEOPLE
TWO MOST FAMOUS CITYSTATES
• ATHENS
• cultural achievements
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during the 5th century
BCE laid the foundations
of western civilization.
ECO BASED ON TRADE
AND SEAFARING
BIRTHPLACE OF
DEMOCRACY
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SPARTA
ECO BASED ON FARMING
MILITARY BASED
PRACTICED OLIGARCHY
WARS
• PERSIAN WARS, 490 – 481 BCE
• GREEK CITYSTATES LED BY ATHENS AND
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SPARTA VS. PERSIAN EMPIRE
GREEK VICTORY
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PELOPONNESIAN WARS, 431 – 404 BCE
ATHENS VS. SPARTA
SPARTA VICTORY
SPARTA DOMINATED GREEK CITYSTATES
FAMOUS GREEKS
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SOCRATES
469 BC – 399 BC
classical Greek Athenian philosopher
A founder of Western philosophy
Plato and Xenophon, famous students
Socratic method, type of pedagogy in
which a series of questions are asked
not only to draw individual answers,
but also to encourage fundamental
insight into the issue at hand
knowledge of the man, his life, and his
philosophy is entirely based on
writings by his students Plato,
Xenophon, Aristotle, and Aristophanes
SOCRATES
• Rather than upholding a status quo and accepting the
development of what he perceived as immorality within
his region, Socrates questioned the collective notion of
"might makes right" that he felt was common in Greece
during this period. Plato refers to Socrates as the
"gadfly" of the state (as the gadfly stings the horse into
action, so Socrates stung various Athenians), insofar as
he irritated some people with considerations of justice
and the pursuit of goodness. His attempts to improve
the Athenians' sense of justice may have been the
source of his execution.
Death of Socrates
Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825)
SOCRATES
• found guilty of both corrupting the minds
of the youth of Athens and of impiety
("not believing in the gods of the state"),
and subsequently sentenced to death by
drinking a mixture containing poison
hemlock.
• “THERE IS ONLY ONE GOOD,
KNOWLEDGE, AND ONE EVIL,
IGNORANCE.”
PLATO
• 429-349 BCE
• Classical Greek philosopher,
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mathematician, student of
Socrates
founder of the Academy in Athens,
the first institution of higher
learning in the Western world
helped to lay the foundations of
Western philosophy and science
FAMOUS LITERATURE, THE
REPUBLIC
WROTE DIALOGUES, BOOKS,
WHICH WERE CONVERSATIONS
BETWEEN A CHARACTER NAMED
SOCRATES AND OTHER
ATHENIANS
PLATO’S REPUBLIC
• The Republic
• Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC concerning the definition
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of justice and the order and character of the just city-state and the just
man
MAIN IDEA: HIS VISION OF A PERFECTLY GOVERNED SOCIETY
ANTI-DEMOCRACY
SOCIETY OF 3 GROUPS
1 FARMERS AND ARTISANS
2 WARRIORS
3 RULING CLASS
A PHILOSOPHER-KING WOULD BE CHOSEN FROM THE RULING CLASS.
ARISTOTLE
• 384 BC – 322 BC
• Greek philosopher, a
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student of Plato and
teacher of Alexander
the Great.
His writings cover
many subjects
founding figure in
Western philosophy
ARISTOTLE
• RULES OF LOGIC
• SUMMARY OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE
TIMES
• BASIS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• TUTOR OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, SON
OF PHILIP OF MACEDONIA
• FOUNDED SCHOOL CALLED THE LYCEUM
WHICH RIVALED THE ACADEMY
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
• July 356 – 10/11 June
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323 BC
By the age of thirty, he
had created one of the
largest empires of the
ancient world, stretching
from the Ionian Sea to
the Himalayas
He was undefeated in
battle and is considered
one of history's most
successful commanders
• Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion his
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conquests engendered
He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most
notably Alexandria in Egypt
Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the
resulting spread of Greek culture in the east resulted in a
new Hellenistic civilization, aspects of which were still
evident in the traditions of the Byzantine Empire
He became the measure against which military leaders
compared themselves, and military academies
throughout the world still teach his tactics