CLASSICAL GREECE

Greek Brainstorming: ABC’s of Ancient Greece

1. Make a list A through Z on a piece of paper2. Attempt to associate any term, person, place, idea or even that correlates with your prior knowledge of the Ancient Greek culture and starts with the letter

Example Z = Zeus

3. Well will try to make one list A-Z as a class

Classical Greece Time Line

2000 B.C. Minoan civilization prospers on Crete.

1500 B.C. Mycenaean culture thrives on Greek mainland.

About 1200 B.C. Trojan War takes place.

750 B.C. Greek city-states flourish.

479 B.C. Greece triumphs in Persian Wars.

334 B.C. Alexander starts to build his Empire.

Classical Greece, 2000 B.C. –300 B.C.5CHAPTER

Time Line

2000 B.C.

300 B.C.

Overview of Main Ideas

• A rugged Greek landscape causes the creation of city-states.

• They fight one another but unite to fight invaders from Persia

• Ancient Greek has contributed so much in so many ways to world history

• Athens becomes the home of culture, but it’s empire collapses after years of war from Sparta

• Alexander conquers Greece, the Persian Empire and Egypt• After His death a new culture blends influences from territories he conquered: Hellenistic Age

Greece is rocky, with high mountains and deep valleys making it difficult to move over the land.

• Greeks living in different areas could not be easily united

• Good farm land covered only a small portion of Greece and could not support many people.

• They did have easy access to the sea• They became excellent sailors• Trade became important• The climate is mild which allowed Greek men to spend much time outdoors

• They attended public events• Were active in civic life

Geography Affects Life: Land, Sea,

Climate

Mycenaeans vs. MinoansMycenaeans-from Mycenae (main city)• The Mycenaeans were Indo-Europeans that migrated to the Greek peninsula around 2000 B.C.

• They built their main city of Mycenae on a rocky ridge surrounded by a 20 foot thick wall. It could withstand almost any attack

• The warrior kings ruled the city and the surrounding villages and farms. Mycenaean palace-forts dotted the southern part of Greece

• These warrior Kings won their enormous wealth by controlling local production and commercial trade. Their armies were in constant search of plunder. The early Mycenaeans were from the Bronze age (2000-1100 BC).

• Fortified city of Mycenae--steep rocky ridge

--walled city

Trojan WarTrojan War - 1200 BC 10 yr war• Mycenaeans vs Troy

• Trojans kidnapped Helen, wife of Greek King

• The Trojan Horse was famous in this war

• The poem “The ILIAD” tells of the war of Troy

• Historians: battle for waterway control in Aegean

Mycenaean Collapse – 1200 B.C.• Around 1200 BC the Mycenaean civilization collapses. Sea raiders attack Mycenaean cities, destroying many of the palace-fortresses.

HomerHomer• blind, storyteller

• epics - heroic narrative poems

• Iliad and Odyssey—stories of Trojan War

Myths• Tried to understand mysteries of nature and gods and passions of man

• humanlike but immortal given to the gods Homer

Greek City-StatesPOLIS: The city-state was primary political unit in ancient Greece

Each city controlled 50 to 500 square miles

A polis was made up of a city and its surrounding countryside which included numerous villages

Greek’s identified themselves more with their local city-state and less with their shared culture.

This created rivalries among them and the Greeks constantly fought one another.

The AcropolisThe polis were often no larger than 20,000 citizens and on a fortified hilltop, called an acropolis, male citizens gathered to conduct business

This is the most famous of the Acropolis’ found in Athens, Greece

The Acropolis

Citizen-Soldiers• Greeks valued their military• Iron made weapons affordable to ordinary citizens

• The new army of the Greeks now was made up of common citizens-merchants, artisans, and small landowners

• Soldiers are known as Hoplites

• The stood in the fearsome phalanx formation—side by side, holding a spear in one hand and shield in another.

Phalanx (FAY-lanks)army formation

Political Systems in Greek City-States

Governments: 3 types•(1) monarchy - king or monarch• Some kings became dictators and borderline tyrants

•(2) oligarchy - small group of elites, warrior landholding elite

•(3) Democracy - rule by the people• Direct democracy

King Phillip II of Macedonia

Athens Builds a Limited Democracy

Why democracy in Athens?• In Athens, there was power

struggle between the rich and the poor. But the Athenians avoided civil war by embracing new government reforms.

• One particular reform was the idea of democracy.

• Solon: an Athenian leader, he removed some of the laws that the poor did not like• He opened the assembly where laws were discussed and approved to all Athenian citizens

• Not everyone participated. Only free adult males. Women, slaves and foreigners were excluded

Athenian Democracy• Later reforms would include the “Council of 500”.• These members were elected officials that proposed laws and advised the assembly (similar to the Senate)

Sparta Builds a Military State

Sparta in Peloponnesus• Sparta is located on Peloponnesus, a peninsula in southern Greece

• Rival kingdoms cause Sparta to build and maintain a powerful army

Government • oligarchy

• (1) Assembly: Elected officials voted on major issues

• (2) Council of Elders: proposed laws

• Two Kings ruled the military

Spartan SocietyClass System• Citizen landowners (free) ruled• Non-citizen workers (usually foreigners, free)

• Helots (low class)• Slaves

• At one time, Sparta had 25,000 citizens and 500,000 slaves

• Education – boys’ entered into military programs called the agoge

• Training begins at 7y/o• Boys were beaten, starved• Taught to put Sparta before family• Women— Spartan women had no formal education, ran

the farms/businesses so their husbands were free to serve in the army, participated in sports

The Persian Wars• The Greeks and the Persians were long rivals and have a great history of wars fought between them.

• Persians had conquered Greek lands around 520 B.C.• Ionia in Anatolia (modern day Turkey)

• The Ionians revolted against the Persians. Athens supported the Greek colonies along Anatolia and sent aid to them. King Darius crushed the revolt and sought revenge against Athens.

• Thus started the Persian Wars.

The Battle of Marathon

• Darius plans to destroy Athens.

• An army of 25,000 Persians set sail.

• The Persians landed at Marathon where 10,000 Greeks waited in their phalanxes.

• The Athenians were greatly outnumbered.

• Although they were highly outnumbered, the Persians were no match for the disciplined Athenian phalanx and the Persians were defeated.

Did You Know?• According to legend, following the Battle of Marathon, a young runner name Pheidippides ran back to Athens to tell them of the Persian defeat.

• He ran non-stop for 26 miles from Marathon to Athens.

• Upon reaching Athens he proclaimed, “Nike!” (victory) and then fell dead.

• This is why modern day marathons are run at 26.2 miles.

Athens

Greece vs. Persia• 10 years later following the Persian defeat at Marathon, Darius’ son, Xerxes, mounts a massive army (100k-300k) and marches towards Athens.

• Xerxes is dedicated to finishing what his father could not, destroying Athens.

• At this time, the Greeks were not one nation but still many independent city states that constantly fought one another.

Greece vs. Persia• Athens calls for aid while it mounts its own army to defend itself.

• Few Greeks respond.• Xerxes marches his army towards Athens but is blocked at the Thermopylae Pass where 7,000 Greeks, including 300 Spartans stand in the way.

• The battle lasts 3 days and the Greeks inflict heavy losses on the Persians before they are finally defeated.

Greece vs. Persia• Xerxes continues his march towards Athens.

• The Athenians are forced to flee and their city is burnt to the ground.

• The Greeks eventually make a naval stand at Salamis and destroy Xerxes’ navy.

• The Spartans then defeat the Persians once and for all at Plataea (pluh-tee-uh)

Outcome of the Persian Wars

• With the Persian threat ended, all Greek city-states felt a new sense of confidence and freedom.

• Athens became the leader of an alliance of 140 city-states called the Delian League that drove the Persians from the territories surrounding Greece and ushered in the golden era for Athens. Delian League

A Leader for Athens• During Greece’s Golden Age, democratic ideas and Greek culture flourished

• Athens chose Pericles as it’s leader

• Served for more than 3 decades

• He took many steps to make Athens better and he had 3 main goals that were successful

Pericles’ Three Goals for Athens

Strengthen Athens’ democracy: Increased number of paid officials, increased citizen participation

Hold and strengthen empire:Built navy through Delian League’s funds, protected overseas trade

Glorify Athens: Brought gold, ivory and marble to Athens. Hired artists, built architectural projects and the Parthenon

Pericles’ Goals

The three goals of Pericles:

1.He wanted Athens to be more democratic: he created more positions in government and paid a salary. Poor people could hold these jobs

2.He wanted to make Athens stronger: the city was the head of a group of more than 140 Greek city-states called the Delian League. He used the league’s money to make sure they had the strongest navy in the Mediterranean.

3. He wanted to make Athens beautiful: he used the Delian League money to fund a great building program for his city: Parthenon, Statue of Athena

The Peloponnesian War

• Peloponnesian war was a war fought between Sparta and Athens for control of Greece.

• Tension had been building for many years.

• Sparta did not like how prosperous Athens had become through the Delian League

• The war lasts 27 years.• Fought to control the Greek region and the prosperous trade.

Spartans and Athenians Go to War

- Sparta: Strengths- Strong land-based army- Advantage: Athenian navy could not attack Sparta was too far inland

- Athens- Strong navy- Attack Sparta’s allies

- Sparta marches on Athens- Pericles brings citizens into city behind walls

- Sparta burns countryside (food)

- Athens would be spared as long as ships sailed into harbor

The War Ends• The war would not go well for Athens.

• Athens suffers 2 major disasters.

• A terrible plague strikes the city killing a large portion of the people, including Pericles

• Athens suffers several military defeats, including a loss of most all its navy in a battle with Sparta’s ally Syracuse

• Athens finally surrenders and Athen’s Golden Age is over.