Heart of Ancient Greece

Few people lived more than 70 km from it’s shore

Civilization depended on the sea

More than 2000 islands- some rocky and some extremely fertile

Earliest civilization began on a fertile island named Crete

Greece has nearly 3200 km of coastline.

Deep fjords provided excellent harbors.

Greeks sailed from island to island sharing ideas and products.

Landscape is marked by mountains. Only 1/5 of the land was fertile- so

it was highly valued. Mountains acted as partitions

between communities. Ancient Greece became a collection

of separate, independent city-states- often at war with each other.

Ancient Greece can be divided into 4 periods:

EARLY PERIOD (2000- 800 BCE) EARLY CLASSICAL PERIOD (800- 480 BCE) CLASSICAL GREECE (480-338 BCE) HELLENISTIC AGE (338-27 BCE)

The Minoan Period The Mycenaean Period The Dark Ages The Persian Wars

The earliest civilization associated with Greece.

Located on the island of Crete

Named after legendary ruler- King Minos. (Mythical)

Lived on the mainland in small simple farming villages.

Wealthy and powerful civilization. Gained wealth through trade and

piracy. Factors that led to the decline of the

Mycenaean civilization: Civil wars, invasion, drought and famine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3dak2YQdPM&feature=related

Greeks developed small, secure, independent communities. These became known as city-states or ”polis” (community of people).

These rarely exceeded 20,000 people except for the two largest:

Athens Sparta

In order to find additional food, the Greeks set up “apoikai ” (away homes or colonies).

This is considered the greatest age in Ancient Greek History.

Phenomenal rush of achievements- most of which stemmed from Athens. A lot of these achievements came from contact with Egypt and Persia.

Blossomed in Art and Science.

ATHENS:

- Commercial city and cultural center- Had the most democratic government of

all the city states.- Controlled the Delian League (150 city

states banned together to protect against further attacks from the Persians).

SPARTA:

- First city-state to keep a standing army of professional soldiers

- Highly militaristic- Ruled by a small group of

aristocrats.

Aristocrats Metics Perioikoi Helots Eunomia

1. -Phenomenal rush of achievements in arts and sciences. (paintings, statues, metal work, glassmaking, thinking, poets, artists)

2. Completely different city states. Athens tried to expand into central Greece, Athens blocked trading by some cities, Delian League members asked Sparta for help.

3. - Plague swept 1/3 of population- Leader (Alcibiades) was exiled.- Spartans had strong allies in Persia and Sicily.- Blockade of Athens by Sparta.

Son of King Phillip II, of Macedonia. In 338 BCE, Macedonia takes over the

Greek city states. When Phillip II is killed, Alexander

becomes king of Macedonia at the age of 20.

To consolidate his power, he had possible rivals killed and led campaigns into Greece to demonstrate his power.

He set out to fulfill his fathers dream of expanding the empire.

He spent 11 years at war- by the end of which he had stretched the empire from Greece to India.

He died at the age of 33 of Malaria.

“Hellenistic” civilization was a blend of Eastern and Western influences---because his army consisted of both Persians and Greeks, they learned from each other.

The large empire spread the culture and ideas of Greece.

Film: Alexander the Great (25 min)

The word "democracy" combines the elements demos (which means "people") and kratos ("force, power").

The development of government emerged in the dark ages with the development of the “polis” or city state.

KING- Most early states were ruled by a king, sometimes elected, sometimes hereditary.

ARCHON- Aristocrats who were appointed to office for life.

TYRANTS- Citizens who took power with the help of a military power.

Every adult male over the age of 18 could speak and propose legislation in the assembly, vote directly on every piece of legislation, and stand for public office.

Athens: Direct Democracy(@2:30)

Was the Athenian system of government truly democratic?

Was it an efficient system of decision making?

How does it compare to the system of democracy used in Canada?