Ancient Greece

Mrs. GosnellWorld Civilizations

Geography• Southeast Europe• Peninsula

• Land surrounded on three sides by water

• Sea cuts into land• Hills and mountains

• Land unavailable for farming• No major rivers flowing through• Dependent on sea

Survival• Rely on the sea for survival

• Fisherman, sailors, traders, and merchants

• Could only grow two crops• Grapes and Olives

• Traded these with Egypt for wheat and barley

Ancient Greece • Mycenaean and Minoans

• Set up civilizations on the island of Crete• Migrated northward into Greece

• Dark Ages• 1200-800 B.C. • Don’t really know what happened• No written records• Famine and food shortages led to

conflict

Ancient Greece • Trojan Wars

• Homer• First poet of the ancient world • Blind• Depicts events in epic poems

• Story with a hero who serves as a role model for Greek youth

• The Iliad• Three day period of Trojan War• Hero was Achilles

• The Odyssey• Adventure returning from Trojan Wars• Hero was Odysseus

Forms of Government• Oligarchy

• Few people in control• Assembly of voting citizens

• Based on wealth • Tyranny

• One person in control• Tyrant• Cruel and Merciless

Forms of Government

• Democracy • Rule by the people• Only free, adult males could vote or

participate in government

Two outstanding City-States• Athens • Sparta

• Each City-state was independent of the other• They kept their own government and

laws

Two outstanding City-States

Athens Sparta

Limited Democracy Monarchy with two kings

Cultural society (arts, literature, etc.) Military society

Laws made by assembly No trade to travel on colonization

Only males in the assembly Military training for all males (7-30)

Trade and travel with other city-states Women trained as soldier mothers

Education for boys Women educated

Women inferior Women seen as property

Shared Characteristics

• Common Language• Shared Heroes• Olympic games• Same gods and Religious beliefs

Democracy in Athens• Trial by jury

• 101-501 Jurors• Difficult to bribe

• Ostracism• Impeachment of a bad public official • Official was then exiled for ten years

Fact about Greece• Greece is a prime target for attack by

the Persians, located directly across the Asia Minor (Turkey). Persian King Xerxes wanted Greece. This resulted in the Persian Wars (490-479 B.C.)

Battle of Marathon• 25 miles from Athens • Athenians asked for military assistance

from Sparta• They refused

• Athens was badly outnumbered • Used their strong navy to defend

themselves• Surprisingly Athens defeats Persia• Runner sent t Athens to tell of the victory

• Ran over 25 miles • Nike! Nike! (Victory)• Then dropped dead

Battle of Thermopylae

• Persia vs. Sparta• Land battle• Spartans lost over 300 men• Sparta loses to Persia

Battle of the Bay of Salamis• Athenian navy vs. Persian Navy• A smaller, faster Athenian ships

outmatched larger Persian ships• Persians lose about half the fleet• Persia defeated

Battle of Plataea

• Persian army retreats and returns home• Persia accepts defeat

Greeks had defeated the Persians, but felt that they we merely lucky in that go around, Athens and Sparta began to talk of unification and for the Delian League. Athenian, Pericles would be the leader of the league. All Greek city-states were included in the alliance. This ushers in the Age of Pericles (460- 430 B.C.)

Delian League• All city-states pay taxes to the league’s

treasury• Paid men to attend assembly meetings• Paid jurors in trials • Built forts along the coastline to protect

Athens• Brought scholars from all over the

Mediterranean world • Classical Age in Greece

Delian League• Uniform system in currency• Spending money out of the Delian League

treasury to improve Athens begins to upset the Spartans. Due to this Sparta begins to fight with Athens politically and militarily. The Peloponnesian War broke out between them. That war lasts 27 years with Sparta eventually winning.

Reasons for defeat• Persian Navy lends support to Sparta• Plague hits Athens

• Wiped out 1/3 of the population • Pericles died in the plague

• After 202 B.C., Athens would never again be an international power

 Contributions of the GreeksArchitecture

• Parthenon • Best example of Classical Greek architecture • Sit on the Acropolis is Athens• Simplicity and beauty

 Contributions of the Greeks• Religion• Polytheism

• Zeus• King of the gods

• Athena• Goddess of wisdom and industry

• Aphrodite • Goddess of love and beauty

• Apollo• God of art and music

 Contributions of the GreeksTheatre:• Tragedy

• War stories• Human suffering• Sophocles and Euripides

• Comedies • Poked fun at public officials• Aristophanes

• Amphitheatre• Outdoor theatre • Sound projection • Wore masks• All Greek actors were male

 Contributions of the GreeksPoets:• Homer• Sappho

• Love poems• Female

 Contributions of the GreeksHistorians:• Herodotus

• Father of History • Persian Wars

• Thucydides • Peloponnesian Wars

 Contributions of the GreeksScience:• Scientific method

• Aristarchus• Sun was the center of the universe • Earth rotated on an axis

• He could not prove it, no one believed him

 Contributions of the GreeksMedicine:• Hippocrates

• Father of Medicine • Set up a medical school• Natural reason for why something was

wrong• Hippocratic Oath

• Could not perform abortions

 Contributions of the GreeksMath:• Euclid

• Father of Geometry• Value of Pi

• 3.14• Pythagoras

• Pythagorean theory• Archimedes

• Practical Mathematics• Used to invent and build

 Contributions of the GreeksPhilosophy:• Love wisdom • Socrates

• Socratic Method• To gain knowledge you must ask questions

• Charged with corruption of the youth• Young people were asking to many

questions• Forced to drink poison

 Contributions of the GreeksPlato

• Socrates student • Set up schools of philosophy • The Republic

• Criticized democracy • Mob rule• Poor, corrupt leaders

• Advocates philosopher kings

 Contributions of the GreeksAristotle

• Attended Plato’s schools • Scientific minded philosopher

• Reach truth through study of the natural world

• Male by nature was superior and the female inferior

• Hired by King Philip of Macedonia to tutor his young son Prince Alexander

 Contributions of the Greeks

• Alexander the Great• Spread Greek culture all over the Mediterranean

World • Touched 3 continents

• Asia, Africa, Europe• Overly ambitious

• King Philip was assassinated • By Alexander?

• Died suddenly at age 33 • Left no successor • Empire divided amongst his Generals

• Empire collapses as Generals fight amongst themselves

• Rome begins to conquer the area