GREECE

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GREECE
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Geography

• Greece occupies a small area in the Mediterranean
  and Aegean Seas
• Made up of the mainland and numerous islands
• Two geographic features played a significant role
  in developing Greece
• Mountains
• Isolated Greeks from one another different
  communities develop
• However, rivalries between communities led to
  warfare that devastated Greek society

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• The Sea
• Became seafarers who established colonies that
  spread Greek civilizations
• Peninsula land that is surrounded on three
  sides by water
• Archipelago a chain of islands

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Early Greek Civilization

• The Minoan civilization (3000-1450 BC)
• Established on the island of Crete
• Named after King Minos, legendary king of Crete
  (the Minotaur story)
• Sudden catastrophic collapse around 1450 BC

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Early Greek Civilizations

• The Minoan civilization (3000 1450 BC)
• Established on the island of Crete
• Named after King Minos, legendary king of Crete
  (the Minotaur story)
• Used bronze to make weapons
• Large palace at Knossos had basic plumbing
• Sudden and catastrophic collapse around 1450 BC

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Greek City-States

• The central focus of Greek life and society was
  the polis
• Polis Greek city-state
• Greeks were fiercely loyal to their polis and
  regarded themselves not as Greeks, but as members
  of a particular city-state
• Make-up of a polis
• Citizens who had political rights adult males
• Citizens who had no political rights women and
  children
• Non-citizens slaves and foreigners
• - Some cities develop democracy govt by the
  people or rule by the many
• - Other city-states develop an oligarchy rule
  by the few

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• New military system develops
• Based on hoplites heavily armed foot soldiers
• Carried a round shield, short sword, and a
  thrusting spear
• Formed a phalanx for protection
• Phalanx a wall of shields created by foot
  soldiers marching close together in rectangular
  formation

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Athens

• Government structure was a democracy
• Direct democracy vote directly on the issues
• Indirect democracy elect people to vote on the
  issues in your place

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• Standards for voting must be a free male over
  the age of 20 who has completed military training
  and owns land
• Accounts for 10 of the population
• Duties of people allowed to vote
• Vote in all elections and serve in office if
  elected
• Serve on juries and in the military during war
• Athenian democracy consisted of three main bodies
• Council of Five Hundred who proposed laws that
  would be voted on by the Assembly and supervised
  both foreign affairs and the treasury

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• Athenian Assembly composed of all male citizens
  who were eligible to take part in the govt
• This assembly voted on and passed the laws
• Direct democracy people participate directly in
  govt decision making and vote directly on an
  issue
• Complex series of courts
• Built the Parthenon a grand temple dedicated to
  the goddess Athena

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• Women could not own property and always had a
  male guardian
• Chief obligation was to have children
• Were expected to stay at home and out of sight,
  unless attending religious festivals or funerals

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Sparta

• Like most city-states, Sparta needed more land,
  so they conquered neighboring peoples instead of
  starting new colonies
• The Spartans turned these conquered peoples into
  helots state slaves
• Spartans were now free to spend all their time
  training for war

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• Spartans decide to create a military state to
  keep control over the helots
• Helots outnumbered Spartan citizens by 7 to 1
• Life in Sparta was rigidly organized
• Babies were examined at birth and if they were
  found to be weak, they were put to death
• Men
• Taught physical toughness by parents until age
  seven
• They then entered a school system designed to
  teach them combat
• At the end of their training, boys were sent into
  the wilderness and expected to survive

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• At age 20 the boys became hoplites in the Spartan
  army
• Allowed to marry, but had to live in barracks
  until age 30
• Could now live their own lives, but expected to
  fight with the army when needed
• Allowed to vote in the assembly at age 30,
  retired from the army at age 60
• Women
• Expected to exercise and raise healthy children
• Had greater freedom and power in the household
  due to separation from their husbands
• Could own property

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• Government structure
• Was an oligarchy headed by two kings who led the
  army on its campaigns
• Ephors a group of five men elected each year
• Responsible for the conduct of all citizens and
  education
• Council of Elders composed of the two kings and
  28 citizens over the age of 60
• Decided the issues that would be presented to the
  assembly
• Assembly of male citizens voted on the issues
• Foreigners were discouraged from visiting and
  Spartans were not allowed to travel abroad
• Kept out dangerous ideas and discouraged new
  thoughts

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• ATHENS SPARTA
• Location
• Govt Type
• Military State?
• Allows foreigners?
• Who Can Vote?
• Voting Age?
• Life of Women

Peninsula of Attica
Peninsula of Peloponnesus
Democracy
Oligarchy
YES
NO
YES
NO
Free men who own land
Men in the army
20
30
More freedom and power
Stay inside, have male guardian
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• SPARTA
• Located Peninsula of Peloponnesus
• Govt type Oligarchy
• Military state? YES
• Foreigners? NO
• Who can vote Men in the
• army
• Voting Age 30
• Women have more freedom and power

• ATHENS
• Located Peninsula of Attica
• Govt type Democracy
• Military state? NO
• Foreigners? YES
• Who can vote Free men who
• own land
• Voting Age 20
• Women Expected to stay inside, must have a male
  guardian

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The Persian Wars

• (490 BC - 479 BC)
• Persian emperor Darius decides to invade Greece
• First Persian Invasion 490 BC
• Battle at Marathon Athenians attack the
  Persians while they are unloading and the
  Persians retreat
• An Athenian messenger runs 26 miles from Marathon
  to Athens to announce the victory
• He dies after delivering the message

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• Second Persian Invasion 480 BC
• Battle at Thermopylae
• Greeks are afraid they wont have enough time to
  prepare
• A group of 300 Spartans decide to hold off the
  entire Persian army at the mountain pass of
  Thermopylae
• Are successful for several days until a local
  shows the Persians an alternate path through the
  mountain and they kill all the Spartans
• In 479 BC a large Greek army led by the might of
  Sparta crushes the Persians, ending the war

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The Peloponnesian War

• War between Athens and Sparta
• Sparta and allies dominate the land
• Athens and allies dominate the sea
• Spartans surround Athens hoping for an open
  battle
• Athens avoids any battles on land
• Knowing they cant compete in open battle, they
  hide behind their city walls, relying on supplies
  from their navy and colonies
• Sparta eventually destroys the Athenian navy and
  Athens surrenders
• The walls of Athens are torn down and the Empire
  destroyed

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• Costs of the war
• Weakened major Greek city-states
• Athens nearly destroyed, Sparta exhausted as well
• Struggle for power in Greece led to a long cycle
  of warfare that left all of Greece vulnerable
• Ignored the growing power of Macedonia to the
  north
• Loss of freedom

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Greek Culture

• Philosophy the search for wisdom and knowledge
• Greek word meaning the love of wisdom
• Socrates
• First of the great Athenian philosophers
• Everything known about Socrates comes from the
  writings of his students
• Interested in broad concepts of human life
• Best way to learn is to ask questions
• Use question-and-answer format to acquire
  knowledge
• Known as the Socratic method

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• Socrates was charged with disrespect for religion
  and corrupting the citys children
• Thought he caused children to question the
  actions of the gods
• Believed the displeasure of the gods caused
  Athens to lose the war
• Sentenced to death by drinking a cup of hemlock,
  a poison
• Plato
• Student of Socrates
• His most famous work was the Republic
• Govt should be led by the people most qualified
  to make good decisions - philosophers

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• Plato founded the Academy, a school where
  respected philosophers could teach their students
  and hold debates
• Questioned reality and believed in ideal Forms
• Every material object in the world was only the
  reflection of a perfect ideal
• Aristotle
• Student of Plato
• Emphasis on reason and logic to study the natural
  world
• Reason clear and ordered thinking
• Logic the process of making inferences

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• Aristotle believed in analyzing through
  observation and investigation
• People should use reason to learn about the world
  by making careful observations
• Influenced the development of science in Europe
• History
• A systematic analysis of past events, created by
  the Greeks
• The Greeks were one of the first people to write
  about and analyze the past
• Herodotus First historian, wrote about the
  Persian Wars

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• Thucydides considered to be the greatest
  historian of the ancient world
• Included many primary speeches and looked at his
  sources critically

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• Homer
• One of the greatest poets of all times, wrote
  epic poems based on the Trojan War that became
  the basis for Greek education system
• Epic poem long poem that tells the deeds of a
  great hero
• Iliad tale of the Greek hero Achilles
• Odyssey long journey home of Greek hero
  Odysseus

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• Greek Drama
• Used for entertainment, two distinct forms of
  drama
• Tragedies usually focused on hardships faced by
  Greek heroes
• Comedies satires, written to expose the flaws
  of society
• Several well-known Greek playwrights
• Sophocles concentrated on the suffering people
  brought upon themselves
• Many of his characters had fatal flaws
• Famous play Oedipus Rex, the story of a king
  who accidentally kills his father and marries his
  mother

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Alexander the Great

• Macedonia was a powerful kingdom to the north of
  the Greek city-states
• Philip II reorganized the Macedonian army and
  adopted the phalanx system
• Conquered all of the major Greek city-states
  except Sparta and became the new leader of Greece
  in 338 BC, he was assassinated in 336 BC
• After his death, his son Alexander came to the
  throne (356-323 BC)
• Alexander was a great military leader and
  strategist

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• Decided to fulfill his fathers dream of
  conquering the Persian Empire
• Destroyed the Persian army and emperor Darius III
  fled he was later murdered by one of his own
  officers
• After this victory, Alexander led his army deeper
  into Asia
• Went and conquered parts of India
• When his army refused to go any further,
  Alexander agreed to go home

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• On his way back home, Alexander fell ill in the
  city of Babylon and died a few days later
• He left no heir, so his generals began to fight
  for control
• In the end the empire was divided among the three
  most powerful generals
• Macedonia and Greece, Persian Empire, and Egypt
• Legacy of Alexander
• Created new cities, most of them named Alexandria
• Built Alexandria as the Greek capital of Egypt
  important city which had a famous library
• Alexander envisioned a world in which many
  cultures would live together

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• Made a conscious effort to bring people and ideas
  from different places together
• Encouraged Greeks to move to the Alexandria
  cities
• Created a new type of culture
• Blended elements of Greek civilization with ideas
  from Persia, Egypt, and Central Asia
• Created the Hellenistic Era
• Hellenistic means to imitate the Greeks
• Expansion of Greek language and ideas to other
  parts of the world
• Massive spread of Greek colonists to Asia
• Alexanders empire fell apart soon after his
  death, and the different Hellenistic kingdoms
  were shortly conquered by the Romans

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