Ancient Greece
K. Roberts
Geography
Located on a peninsula
Mountainous terrain which
makes farming difficult
focus on trading olives and grapes
Ionian, Mediterranean, Aegean Sea all around Greece
Early Civilizations
Minoan Civilization
located on island of Crete
capital: Knossos
wrote in “Linear A”
Suddenly disappeared
either to a large tidal
wave by a volcano or destruction
of invasion by Mycenaeans
Early Civilizations
Mycenae
first Greek state
powerful monarchies
warrior type people
wrote in “Linear B”
Decline - Mycenaean states
fighting each other
Trojan War
Paris, prince of Troy, kidnaps Helen, wife of king of Sparta,
Agamemnon
Greeks unite ten years later, attack Troy
Can’t break walls, so they build a wooden horse, stay
inside overnight, sack the city next day after Trojans
bring horse inside city walls
Trojan Horse
Trojan War
Homer - author of Iliad and Odyssey
epic poems that tells deeds of a hero
Illiad: about the Trojan War
Odyssey: about Odysseus’ journey after the war
both stories to teach about courage and honor
OR...
City-States
Athens
thoughtful people
studied science, history, architecture, and philosophy
government: democracy
started by Cleisthenes
council of 500
Government
Athens originally a oligarchy
Draco is asked to come build
laws so everyone can follow
Harsh, death become
punishment for every single crime
City-States
Sparta
conquering people
often took neighboring people as serfs (slaves)
males: military men
women: housewives
Gov’t: oligarch
NO VISITORS!
GREECE
Important events/concepts:
Greece vs. Persia
Ionian Greece taken over by Persian Empire, try to revolt - makes
Darius mad
led an attack on the plain of Marathon, but were defeated
Xerxes planned to invade Greece
7,000 Greeks held off 180,000 Persians at Thermopylae
GREECE
Important events/concepts:
Athens takes leadership over Greece
forms Delian League
pursued the attack against Persian Empire
Caused problems, leading to Peloponnesian War
Athens (allies) vs. Sparta (allies)
Athens: Better Navy
Sparta: Better Soldiers
GREECE
Important events/concepts:
Religion:
polytheistic
gods lived on Mount Olympus
oracles would divulge information for
the people
GREECE
Important events/concepts:
Drama:
Tragedies
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
where we get the phrase the “Oedipus Complex”
examined problems such as nature of good and evil
History:
Herodotus - world’s first historian
Thucydides - considered to be greatest historian of ancient world
viewed war and politics as activities of humans, not gods
GREECE
Philosophers:
Socrates - asked people questions, challenging them to exam their
answers
Plato - wrote the Republic, believed reason was best for one to know
what they believe
Aristotle - studied all types of government, really focused on biology,
politics, literature, and other subjects that eventually made it to the
first European universities
GREECE
Hellenistic Greece
Brought about Alexander the Great
Upon death, empire broke into four sections
“imitate Greeks”
expansion of Greek culture and language to the non-Greek world