Mr. Power’s Ancient Greece

Grade 4 Social Studies

A long…long time ago…

Good morning class! In this presentation we are going to learn all about the ancient Greeks and their civilization.

Ancient Greece started around 900 BCE and were a mix of many people from Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa. The greeks were known for their great thinkers called philosophers, advanced math ideas, writing, music and sports (the Olympics). All these things made Greece a powerful ancient civilization and now we are going to learn even more about them

What kind of clothing do you think the Greeks

would wear?

Ancient Greek

ClothingDuring the Golden Age, people lived simply .

- Men wore a tunic called a “Chiton” with a belt around the waist.

- Women wore a similar square robe called a “Peplos” that went down to their feet.

- Most of the time they wore no shoes. For walking on dusty roads they wore boots or leather sandal.

What kind of food do you think the

Greeks ate?

**Think about the land they live on. A lot of Greece is covered with mountain and rock, would it be easy to grow food? How else could they get their food?**

Ancient Greek Food

Greeks ate many different kids of foods, including…

- Olives, olive oil, meat, eggs, chicken, pork, fish, dates and honey.

- Bread was one of the most important foods because the cities of Greece could only grow a small amount of grain, the rest had to be imported from other countries.

Environment Greece is located in the

Mediterranean sea close to Italy.

Greece has a lot of mountains and is very rocky.

Their homes were called “Minoan houses” which were 2 stories tall and built of stone. They had charcoal pots to heat their homes and their furniture was made of woods

Government In ancient Greece

people were elected to represent others in their community, this is what is called democracy.

The Greeks had many wars between the Persians, Spartans and the Macedonians and even their own city states so their was a lot of fighting.

A famous leader of the Greek people was “Alexander the Great”. He conquered many countries from Egypt to the Middle East.

Technology - The Greeks were intelligent people and created many things like pottery, coins, sculptures, metal work…

- They would create beautiful potter by painting certain scenes or images to remember special events.

- They could make statues and tools from iron by heating it and turning it into a liquid.

- Greeks were also famous for creating inventions of war and to protect themselves, some examples were catapults, flame throwers and war ships.

Education The Greeks were

famous for the knowledge and education. Teachers in Greece were called philosophers.

Boys were the only ones who were allowed to go to school. Here they learned how to play instruments (eg. flute), poetry, science, math, reading and writing.

Girls did not go to school, they only learned to read or write if their mother could teach them.

Can we think of any Greek gods or

myths that we have heard of?

Religion, Myths and Legends

For the people of ancient Greece myths and legends were a part of their religion.

They built large temples to honor their many gods like Zeus (king of gods) and Athena (goddess of wisdom)

Legend of Hercules

Mythical story of “The Midas Touch”

What is the big Greek celebration

the world still participates in

today?

Special Celebrations The Greeks had many

celebrations to honor the gods and sport.

Their most famous celebration of sport was called the Olympics. Cities from around Greece would send athletes to participate.

If there was a war between 2 Greek cities they would halt their war until after the games

Structures in Ancient Greece

The Parthenon The Parthenon was

a temple built for the goddess Athena. It was decorated with beautiful sculptures which represent the greatest achievement of Greek artists.

The Parthenon was built on what is known as the Acropolis (Greek for “high city”)

Time for a tour of the Parthenon!