The Greek Roots of Democracy Chapter 1 lesson 1

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The Greek Roots of DemocracyChapter 1 lesson 1

• H-SS 10.1.1 analyze the similarities and
  differences in Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman
  views of law, reason and faith, and duties of the
  individual.
• H-SS 10.1.2 Trace the development of Western
  Political ideas of the rule of law and
  illegitimacy of tyranny, using selections from
  Platos Republic and Aristotles Politics

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Vocabulary

• City- State
• Monarchy
• Sparta
• Athens
• Democracy
• Tyrant
• legislature

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Vocabulary

• Pericles
• Jury
• Socrates
• Plato
• Aristotle

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Location and Geography

• Greece lies at the southern end of the Balkan
  peninsula, surrounded by the Mediterranean
• Geography influenced history.
• Mountainous terrain restricted overland travel
  and limited farming
• They became thinkers, writers and artists

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Rise of Greek City-States

• Classical Greece began around the year 500 B.C.
• Began as isolated city-states
• 700B.C. lack of fertile land prompted Greeks to
  seek land overseas
• Colonies appeared along the Mediterranean from
  Spain to Egypt

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Governing City-States

• City-State was called the polis
• City was built on 2 levels. On the hilltop was
  the acropolis (high city) with marble temples.
  On the flat ground was the marketplace, theater,
  public, buildings and homes.
• Population was small. Citizens shared
  responsibility.

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750-500 B.C.

• First a king ruled the polis
• Power shifted to noble landowners
• They were military defenders
• As trade expanded a new class of wealthy
  merchants emerged.

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Changes in Warfare Sparta

• The defense of the city-state fell to the
  ordinary citizens
• Sparta became a military state
• At the age of 7 boys began training for a life in
  the army
• Girls were expected to produce healthy sons for
  the army

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Spartan Government

• Consisted of 2 kings and a council to advise
  kings
• An assembly made up of citizens approved major
  decisions
• Citizens were male, native-born, over the age of
  30

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Athens A limited democracy

• Athens was Northeast of Sparta
• Here the idea of democracy first took root
• Around 700 BC nobles made decisions
• Citizens became resentful
• 594 BC the wise ruler Solon made changes

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Solon

• Outlawed debt slavery
• Freed existing debt slaves
• Opened offices to more citizens
• Ensured fairness and justice
• Citizenship remained limited
• Unrest led to the rise of tyrants

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Pisistratus/Cleisthenes

• Pisistratus was a tyrant who gave farmers and
  poor citizens more power.
• Cleisthenes set up a council of 500 chosen by lot
  from citizens to prepare laws and supervise
  government, a legislature
• Democracy was limited

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Age of Pericles

• 460-429 B.C.
• Athenians participated in direct democracy.
  Citizens took direct part in day-to-day affairs
• 6,000 members had to be present to decide on
  important issues
• Pericles felt rich and poor should participate,
  so he paid men who held public office

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Greek Philosophers

• Greeks had confidence in the power of the human
  mind
• They used observation and reason to determine why
  things happened
• The Greeks called the thinkers philosophers
  which means lovers of wisdom

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Moral and Ethic Principles

• Ethics and morality concern the idea of goodness
  and the establishment of standards of human
  behavior
• For example, how people should dress and how
  government should run

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Sophists

• In Athens Sophists questioned accepted ideas
• Morals and ethics are simply opinions, not
  principles
• Success was more important
• For a fee they would teach the art of persuasion

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Socrates

• Roamed the market place asking people What is
  for the greatest good?
• He posed a series of questions to his students
  and challenged them to examine their answers.
• This would help them to seek truth and self
  knowledge

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Socrates

• When he was 70 he was put on trial
• He was accused of corrupting the youth and
  failing to respect the gods
• He was condemned to death by a jury
• He was a defender of the democratic process and
  wouldnt escape.
• Then individual should submit to the needs of the
  state.
• He drank a cup of hemlock tea.

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Plato

• The execution of Socrates left him with a
  distrust of democracy
• He left Athens for 10 years
• When he returned he set up the Academy
• He taught and wrote about his ideas
• Through rational thought people could learn how
  to best organize society

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Plato

• Wrote the Republic
• Rejected Athenian Democracy
• State should regulate every aspect of citizens
  lives
• Believed in equality at birth, but that people
  can rise only as high as their abilities would
  allow.

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Platos ideal society

• Three class society
• -workers to produce the necessities of life
• -soldiers to defend the state
• -philosophers to rule

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Aristotle

• Platos student
• Analyzed all forms of government
• Found good and bad in all
• Suspicious of democracy, thought it could lead to
  mob rule
• Favored a constitutional government ruled by
  middle class

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Aristotles Polity

• Government ruled by middle class
• Goal is to establish just and stable rule
• Believed that within the city-state people could
  reach their full potential and achieve the good
  life
• Rulers should be subject to the law

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Aristotles school

• The Lyceum
• Studies included
• Politics
• Ethics
• Logic
• Biology
• Literature
• And many others
• These were the basis for the modern universities
  that would emerge 1500 years later

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Alexander

• Aristotle left Athens when Plato died
• He moved to Macedonia
• Began tutoring the kings 13 year old son,
  Alexander
• Alexander took throne after his father died, he
  was 2o years old
• Alexanders army conquered area all the way to
  the Indus river.

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Alexander the Great

• He dies 4 years after establishing his empire
• His generals split up the empire
• The empire crumbled
• Greek traders and soldiers settled in the cities
  he established

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Hellenistic civilization

• It is a blending of Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and
  Indian influences
• During the Hellenistic Age , Rome began to emerge
  as a powerful new state
• Rome would replace Greece as the dominant
  Mediterranean culture
• Greek ideas about law, freedom, government and
  justice influenced thinking to the present day.