Ancient Greece in a Nutshell

1
Ancient Greece in a Nutshell

• Crash Course 1

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Physical Geography of Greece

• The landscape is rocky and mountainous
• Communication and transportation is difficult
• Cities developed independently of one another
• A single great empire is impossible!

3
The Polis

• Polis (city-state) designated city and its
  surrounding countryside
• The polis can be governed as a monarchy,
  aristocracy, oligarchy, tyranny, or democracy
  you name it!
• Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth are among the
  most powerful polis

4
Democracy v. Oligarchy

• Greek democracies were really expanded
  oligarchies
• Many Greeks saw democracies as unstable and
  violent
• Oligarchies allowed for social mobility and gave
  passive civil rights on all citizens
• Outsiders are excluded from citizenship
• Both allow for strong identification with city
  state by citizens I smell nationalism!

5
The Archaic Age (800-500 BC)A Tale of Two Cities

• Sparta
• Sparta is an oligarchy ruled by 2 kings and 28
  Elders
• Conquest is means of economic and agricultural
  survival
• Strong military society

• Athens
• Aristocracy rules
• Civil unrest common among economically dependent
  farmers and the aristocracy
• Society emphasizes education and philosophy

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More on Athens

• Draco establishes the first Athenian Law Code
  (621 BC) now everyone knows the law!
• Solon freed debt slaves and opened the
  aristocratic assembly to all citizens (594 BC)
• Cleisthenes set up a form of representative
  democracy by setting up local demes (govts) to
  connect to the central government creating a
  local voice

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The Classical Period (500-338 BC)

• Pericles made Athens a cultural center of
  learning and creativity
• Sophocles and Euripides created plays and dramas
• Socrates analyzed human society and developed new
  questioning techniques geared towards analytical
  thinking
• Plato believed the truth lay in the world of
  ideas
• Aristotle put emphasis on the material world

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Persian Wars

• Athens decided to help the Ionians rebel against
  Persia. Persia gets mad and wants revenge
• Persia begins an all out invasion of Greece
  they think Greece would make a nice addition to
  their empire

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The Battles

• Battle of Marathon
• Battle of Thermopylae
• Battle of Salamis

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Wars Alliances

• Persian Wars forced Greek city-states into
  military alliances
• The alliances worked so well, they decided to
  formalize it after the war as a defense.
• The Delian League naval alliance against Persia

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Getting Greedy

• The Athenians took control of the Delian League
  and turned it into a vehicle for building an
  empire (for themselves)
• The league was used as a way to exert control and
  force tributes
• Needless to say, the other city states werent
  thrilled

12
Peloponnesian War

• Tired of the Delian League, Sparta and some
  friends go after Athens, sparking a huge civil
  war
• Macedon sees this happening and sees it as a
  golden moment to invade Greece is left weak and
  unstable from their war.
• Greece falls to Philip of Macedon

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Hellenistic Greece

• Alexander the Great (Philips son) lays claim to
  the empire. He gets busy and expands and expands
  and expands
• As a result of expansion Greek cities become
  connected with other cities
• Greek culture spread to the Mediterranean and
  Asia

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Hellenistic Philosophy

• Two Schools of Philosophy Develop
• Epicureanism moderation, self-discipline, and a
  quiet life
• Stoicism civic virtue, devotion to duty,
  acceptance of ones lot in life

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Ups and Downs

• Trade and international commerce flourish through
  new communication and transportation networks
• After Alexanders death the empire is broken up
  into pieces among his generals
• Monarchies eventually take over the splintered
  pieces