Chapter 4

Section 3

Wars Brought About Change To Ancient Greece

• Objectives• How did the Greeks end the threat of

conquest by Persia?

• Why did the city-states fight among themselves?

• Whose military conquests helped to spread Greek culture through Asia?

I. Wars with Persia Threatened the Greek City-States

• First challenge came from the Persian Empire

• The Persians conquered the Greek colonies of Asia Minor in 500’s BC

• Darius I was the emperor of the Persian Empire, he wanted to go after Greece itself

• 492 BC Darius forms a huge army and navy and headed toward Greece

• By 490 BC the Persian army had defeated many city states and was 25 miles outside the city of Athens

• Miltiades (mil TY uh deez) head of the Athenian army led a charge against the Persians, thought greatly outnumbered they led a fierce attack which surprised the Persians

• Over 6000 Persians died, and only 192 Greeks

• The defeat caused Darius to retreat back to Persia

• After the victory at Marathon the Greeks sent a soldier back to Athens with news that they had won

• When he got to Athens he cried out Nike – which means victory.

• Then he tumbled to the ground dead of exhaustion – today the 26 mile race is called a marathon in memory of the Greek runner.

• 10 years later the Persians tried another attack this time with Darius’ son King Xerxes (ZERK seez) led the way

• B/C of a Greek traitor, the Persians defeated the Greeks, they burned Athens and looted the city

• The Greeks did get some revenge – they destroyed the Persian navy and once again the Persians retreated to Asia, this time never to return

II. Athens Entered A Golden Age

• Greek victory over the Persians was largely due to Athens

• In years after the Persian Wars, Athens entered a period known as the Golden Age of Athens.

• It became the leader of the city-states• Under Pericles, the Athenians rebuilt their

city

• The Parthenon was built at this time

• Fearing another Persian invasion the Athenians built a strong wall around the city

• Pericles wanted to unite wanted to united the Greek city-states into an organization for defense – this was called the Delian League

• Members of the league contributed money ships and soldiers to protect Greece

• Athens provided the most money and soldiers

• As time went on the city-states began to argue about the goals of the league

• Athens which paid the most share wanted the most power

• Soon wars broke out

• And cities like Sparta who were not members of the league feared Athens power.

• They formed their own league and attack Athens

• This started a series of wars known as the Peloponnesian Wars

• In the end Sparta defeated Athens but badly weakened both city states

• Sparta tried to unify and rule Greece like Athens had done

• City-states fought back and attempts to unify failed as did the Golden Age.

III. Macedonia Conquered Greece and Lands Beyond

• To the north of the Greeks was the Macedonians. Distantly related to the Greeks, but didn’t have the advanced culture of the Greeks

• After Peloponnesian Wars, they had a more united government

• Led by King Phillip II, they became a dangerous neighbor

• Phillip II believed he could united all the Greek city-states

• Learned the importance of a strong army when he was a hostage in the Greek city-state of Thebes

• He made his infantry and cavalry into strong fighting forces

• He began to slowly defeat the Greek city-states

• Demosthenes – Athenian orator feared Phillip II

• He felt the Greek city –states should unite against Phillip II

• His attempts failed.

• Phillips’s armies overran Greece

• All city-states except Sparta were under his control

• He planned on putting together a plan to conquest Persian, but he was assassinated before he could do so.

• Alexander the Great – Phillip’s son

• Alexander the Great was taught by the Greek teacher Aristotle to love culture and learning.

• Alexander was also a master of military skills as well

• At 21. He became the ruler of Macedonia and Greece.

• In 334BC he led 35,000 soldiers to Persia and won victory after victory

• By 331BC he controlled all the Persian Empire

• His victories united both the eastern and western worlds

• The mixing of these cultures created what is called a Hellenistic culture

• After he died, in 323BC the empire divided into 3 parts each led by one of Alexander’s generals

Greeks Tried A New Experiment in Government

• Greeks city-states began to fight against their new ruler and among themselves

• By 100’s BC a new power the Roman Empire, had defeated and absorbed the city-states

• Several of the city-states joined the Achaean League which was a Federation

• Federation – form of government in which smaller parts agree to give up some of their powers to stronger central government

• Which means while each city-state in the Achaean League kept control of its own affairs, a central government had the power to tax and raise an army

• Achaean League did not last long, however it was the basis of how the United States was formed and its style of government

• U.S is a Federation

• They could not make contracts or buy or sell anything, borrow money or sue

• They could not even inherit her husbands property after he died

• They wore veils at religious services

• Spent most of their time in the women’s quarters of the home

• In 450 BC, a woman names Aspasia opened a school for young women and it was well attended

• Gradually, over time the women of Greece started to play a more active part in the culture and the communities