SSWH3The student will examine the political, philosophical, and cultural interaction of Classical Mediterranean societies

form 700 BCE to 400 CE.

GREECE GEOGRAPHY:

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1. Separate city-states

2. Mountainous & 2000 islands

3. Located: Balkan Peninsula

GREECE GEOGRAPHY:

• Mountains cover ¾

• shaped political life creating small independent communities

• travel by land difficult

• Results of Geographic Features

• Farming challenges and successes

• Imports

• Failure to Unite

GREECE GOVERNMENT:

• City-state: called a polis (consisted of major city and surrounding land)

• Built on two levels; top level was on a hill called an acropolis

• Male landowners held all political power

GOVERNMENT IN GREECE:

OLIGARCHY:

• Trade expanded, wealthy merchant class, farmer, and artisans challenged landowners

• Created an oligarchy: power is in the hands of a small, wealthy elite

DEMOCRACY:

• Discontent with the wealthy landowners created a democracy

• Government run by the people

• Only landowning men could participate in government and gain citizenship (limited)

• Women & slaves were excluded from politics

ATHENS: Click icon to add picture

• Government: Democracy

• Focus: arts, culture, education

• Women: must be guided by men; most important role in religion; took care of

household

• Education: girls received little/no education; boys went if they could

afford it

• Encouraged young men to explore music, reading, writing, poetry, public

speaking, athletics

SPARTA:

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• Government: Oligarchy

• Focus: extreme warrior society, focused strictly on training for war

• Women: expected to produce healthy sons (exercise); had to obey fathers & husbands;

had right to inherit property

• Education: Boys at age 7 began military training, had to leave home

• Became isolated from other Greeks; no travel or trade permitted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RQm37K-clg

PELOPONNESIAN WAR:

• Athens vs Sparta

• Sparta threatened by Athens expansion

• Sparta strong army; Athens strong navy

• Sparta destroys Athens

• Page 129

PHILOSOPHERS: “LOVERS OF WISDOM”

• Greek thinkers that challenged the belief that events were caused by gods

• Used observation and reason to find causes of events

• Debated & questioned government and laws to rule human behavior

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS:

SOCRATES:• First great philosopher of

Greece• Socratic method: ask

questions & examine implications of answers

• Wanted people to question things.

• Put on trial for corrupting city’s youth, found guilty, and executed by poison.

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS:

PLATO:

• Socrates’ student• Emphasized reason• Distrusted & rejected

democracy (due to Socrates’ death)• taught ideal and

perfect society ruled by one person with ultimate authority

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS:

ARISTOTLE:

• Student of Plato

• Suspicious of democracy; believed in 1 strong leader

• Focused on reason for learning (school courses based on the works of Aristotle)

MACEDONIA:

• Took over Greek city states.

• Alexander the Great• Took over throne at 20 years old

• Conquered huge empire

• Died at 32 years old due to fever; does not name a successor

• Married a Persian woman

ALEXANDER’S LEGACY:

• Alexander's conquests led to cultural diffusion

• Hellenistic Culture (Mixture of Greek and Middle Eastern Culture)

• Alexandria, Egypt: center of Hellenistic world (between Europe & Asia)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQfBinQwPGs

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=HUZT7VYCU2Y

ROME GEOGRAPHY:

• Located: Italian Peninsula, Mediterranean Sea

• Easier to unify

• Fertile land

RISE OF THE REPUBLIC:

• Republic

• a government in which elected officials have power granted by voting citizens

• Republic would prevent any one person from gaining too much power

• Senate: made laws, controlled government; established a system of checks on government power

DECLINE OF REPUBLIC:

• Civil wars began in Rome

• Big issue: who should hold power—

1. Senate

2. Popular Political Leader

• Julius Caesar: military leader who began to rise to power during civil wars

RISE OF AN EMPIRE:

• Autocratic government led by one leader

• Caesar = Emperor

• Pax Romana

• Period of Roman Peace that lasts for 200 years

• Tax system, postal service, coins to make trade easier, vast trade networks (Roman Roads)

• Lots of cultural diffusion!

JULIUS CAESAR: • Triumvirate

• Along with 2 others, Caesar had control of Senate

• Became a dictator

• Gave jobs to unemployed, land to poor, created new calendar

• The other members of the Senate feared he was getting too powerful, so they killed him.

• Started Civil War

OCTAVIAN:

• Ended the Civil War and took over the government

• Became the First Emperor of Rome

• Took the name Augustus Caesar

• Page 159

ROMAN CONTRIBUTIONS:

SCIENCE:

• Heliocentric theory (sun-centered solar system)

• Lever & pulley

• Hippocratic oath (ethical standards for doctors)

GENDER:

• Women no longer restricted to their homes

• Women learned to read and write

• Royal women held power, some were rulers, others worked outside of home

ROMAN CONTRIBUTIONS:

LAW:

• Judges interpret laws, make fair decisions

• innocent until proven guilty

• equal treatment under law

• Solid evidence must be presented to indict someone

SCIENCE:

• Built roads, bridges, harbors

• Roads still used after empire fell

• Aqueducts: structures that carry water into cities

• Applied geography to create maps

ROMAN LIFE:

• Most lived in countryside

• Slaves important

• First major empire to be economically dependent on slavery

• POWs and debtors

• Big difference between rich & poor

• “Western Culture”- Greco-Roman culture that spread Europe to America

• Latin basis of Romance Languages and half of English words

ROMAN ARCHITECTURE:

• Coliseum

• Arena w/ free entertainment

• Gladiators

• Arch

• Dome (Pantheon)

• Columns

ROMAN ART:

• Sculptures from the Greeks

• Frescoes

• Mosaics

GREEK RELIGION:

• Polytheistic

• Gods lived on Mount Olympus

• Zeus: king of the gods

• Honored gods with temples & festivals

(sacrifices, feasts, singing)

ROMAN RELIGION:

• Polytheistic

• Adopted from Greeks

• Jupiter: king of the gods

• Honored by festivals & building of temples

RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:

• Messiah

• Jewish belief that God would send someone to Earth to lead them to Heaven.

• Jesus of Nazareth

• Lived in the Middle East (part of Roman Empire-Jerusalem)

• Jew

• Thought by some to be the messiah

• Made enemies of Jewish and Roman leadership because he was so popular with the common people.

RISE OF CHRISTIANITY:

• Appeal:• embrace all people• personal relationship w/ God• promise of Heaven

• Christianity spread through empire easily due to Pax-Romana• Christians not liked by Romans b/c refused to worship Roman gods

SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY:

• Jesus put to death, Paul spreads word of Jesus & God (missionary)

• Liked by many because it accepted all people, especially the poor

• Used Roman roads to travel & spread the word of Jesus

• People willing to die for their beliefs attracted people

• 312 CE: Roman Emperor Constantine ends persecution of Christians b/c of vision

• 380 CE made official religion of Rome

DECLINE OF ROMAN EMPIRE

• Empire becomes weakened

over time

• Long-time factors: Fall of WesternRoman Empire

Weakened

Economy

Inflation

Increased Taxes

Poor Harve

sts

InvadingNorther

nTribes

Breakdown in

Military and CivilLoyalty

DECLINE OF ROMAN EMPIRE:SPLIT:

• To try to save the empire, it was split in the 3rd century to make it easier to rule

• Western Roman Empire• Capital at Rome

• Eastern Roman Empire• Capital at Constantinople

• Became known as Byzantine Empire later

FALL OF WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE:

• Huns

• One of the many nomadic tribes that led multiple raids into the W. Roman Empire

• Led by Attila the Hun

• Rome surrendered to the attacks in the 5th century