The Story of Ancient Greece

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Greek Components

Government Religion Art Cities

Trade &Transport-ation

Writing Daily Life Technology

The Greek World• Creative people• Time thinking about

purpose of life• Organizing and doing• Democracy• History, philosophy,

drama and theater ideas born.

• First olympics.• Map of Ancient Greece

Geography of Greece• Greece is a small

country in Europe.• Greece is near the

Mediterranean Sea.• The main part of

Greece in on a peninsula.

• A peninsula is a body of land surrounded by water on three sides.

• The rest of Greece is made up of islands.

Greek geography

Greece is mountainous Greek communities

often times developed independently because of the mountains, thus they were diverse

As a result, they fought each other a lot.

Technology results from necessity

Since Greek coastal cities were sandwiched between the ocean and the sea, they developed an awesome navy for trading and fighting.

Technology results from scarcity All cities need fresh

water. This is a Greek aqueduct, basically a brick water pipe.

The first aqueduct was Assyrian, but most ancient societies had them.

Terracing (sloping land) saves water and soil in mountainous

environments

Greek Inventions

The Greeks invented dice.

Greek City-States

• Because Greece is made up of many islands, and has many tall mountains, the Greeks began to build city-states instead of one country.

• A city-state is a city with its own laws, rulers, and money.

• City-states were cities that acted like countries.

The Greeks were the original Olympiads. Their scientists studied the best way to perform sports

Greek Architecture

Greeks invented arches and columns.

This obviously took advanced mathematics.

Greek Military

This is a catapult, a Greek invention.

It could throw 300 pound stones at walls and buildings

Sparta

Sparta was an isolated city-state that was culturally and politically different from Athens.

Sparta was an oligarchy, government ruled by a few. They had 2 kings.

During the Peloponnesian Sparta sacked Athens.

Sparta

• Sparta was a Greek city-state.• Sparta was very powerful and had its

own army.• Sparta conquered other city-states to

gain wealth and power.• There were three classes of people in

Sparta.• Citizens, non-citizens, and slaves.

Sparta’s Classes

• Only men born in Sparta were citizens.• Women were not allowed to become

citizens, however, women were allowed to own land and businesses, which gave them more freedom than other Greek city-states.

• The second class in Sparta was people who came from other city-states or other countries. They could own businesses but not become citizens.

• The third class was slaves.

Sparta warriors

• Learning to read and write in Sparta was not very important.

• Training to become a good soldiers was important.

• Young boys were taken from their parents and trained to be soldiers as well as good in sports such as running.

• Girls were also trained to be good in sports.

Life as a Spartan Girl…

• Freest in Greece

• Participated in many sports in public

• Throw the discus, wrestled, learned to use javelin (instrument of war)

• Healthy mothers = healthy children for their state

Sparta details

First OlympicsMotto: “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (Latin: “Faster, Higher, Braver”)

in 1895 by Father Didon, a French Educator

• Goal: to contribute to a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport, which is practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the olympic spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

• Creed: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.

First Olympics

Olympic Rings Symbol

• Five rings symbolize the five continents represented in the games (Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas)

• Colors of the rings: Blue, Yellow, Black, Green and Red (every country’s flag in these continents has at least one of these colors in it)

Athens

• Athens was another important Greek city-state.

• The people of Athens wanted to rule themselves and not have a king or queen.

• Athens became the world’s first democracy around 508 B.C.

• A democracy is a government in which all citizens can vote and have equal say in what happens.

Democracy in Athens

• Athens was a democracy because all citizens could vote, but only half the people in Athens were citizens.

• Women, people born outside of Athens, and slaves could not vote.

Political terms

All of Greece wasn’t a democracy.

Most of Greece was a monarchy a type of government ruled by a king or queen.

At right is Pericles, a good king of Athens.

Pericles

• Pericles was the leader of creating democracy in Athens.

• He had many buildings constructed.

• Pericles had the Parthenon and the Acropolis built.

Remember!

African Americans could not vote until (Voting Rights Act 1965)

Women could not vote until 1920 (19th Amendment)

Eighteen year olds could not vote until the late 1970s.

Greek Military

This is a hoplite, a Greek infantry (foot)soldier.

Hoplites were middle-class freemen who had to pay for their own weapon and shield.

Greek Military

This is a phalanx. Soldiers get in a

tight box. They each have a large shield and a 9 foot long spear.

Greek religion was polytheistic.

Parthenon and Acropolis

Education in Athens

• Education was very important in Athens.

• Boys went to school to learn to read and write. They also learned many sports.

• Girls were not allowed to go to school or learn to play sports.

The Greek Alphabet

• The Greeks borrowed their alphabet from the Phoenicians.

• Most European languages, including English borrowed ideas from the Greek alphabet.

Great Greeks!Math & Science Literature Government &

Philosopy

Aristarchus Homer Alexander the Great

Euclid Hesiod Socrates

Archimedes Sappho Phillip II

Eratosthenes Aescchylus Plato

Hipparchus Sophocles Zeno

Pythagoras Euripides Epicurus

Galen Menander Pyrrho of Elis

Democritus Aristotle Diogenes

Thales Pindar Solon

Revolutionary Ideas

• Freedom (every district separated by mountains or the sea = distinct groups)

• No one leader, believe in worth of the individual

• Each person do their very best (excellence) at any task he/she undertook

• Balance Mind and Body• “Nothing in excess” and “Know thyself”

Greek Mythology

• Myths are symbolic stories created by the ancient peoples to explain their world. When the ancient Greeks were frightened and did not understand what was going on, they created a story to explain it

– example: did not understand thunder, so created a story about a god that was angry and shook the heavens

• Gods and Goddesses

• Exciting stories, well-defined characters, heroic action, challengin situations and deep emotions (magic, beauty, strong visual images)

How well do you know your Gods & Goddesses?

Aesop’s Fables

• Aesop was a Greek slave who wrote fables

• Fables are short stories that teach a moral truth.

• Simple plots, animal characters symbolizing human traits and explicitly stated morals

Ancient Instrument

• Greek lyre

• Made from large tortoise shell

• Similar to Harp of today

• Apollo, the God of Music, played for other Gods on Mount Olympus

Greek Literature• Iliad and the Odyssey, by blind poet Homer

• Written and recited as songs

• Iliad means “poem about Troy”, tells a tale of a great hero or many great heros

• Odyssey, brother to Iliad

Socrates• Socrates was a

philosopher of Ancient Greece.

• A philosopher is someone who tries to explain the nature of life.

• Socrates taught by by asking questions. This method of questioning is still called the Socratic method.

Plato

• Plato was a student of Socrates.

• He started a school called The Academy.

• Plato’s writing took the form of a dialogue between teacher and student.

Aristotle

• Aristotle was another Greek philosopher and student of Plato.

• He wrote about science, art, law, poetry, and government.

Alexander the Great

Alexander was not from Athens, but Macedonia.

Alexander was a brilliant military strategist.

His favorite book was Homer’s Iliad

Alexander conquered the Persian empire and controlled the largest empire the world has ever seen.

Alexander the Great

• Alexander the Great was the son of King Phillip II of Macedonia.

• Alexander conquered Persia, Egypt, the Middle East and Northern India.

• He died at age 33 from malaria.

Alexander spread Hellenistic culture throughout Asia.

Hellenistic is a fancy word for Greek.

Alexander spread Greek technology and ideas throughout his empire

The Roman Coliseum has a strong Hellenistic influence.

Alexander’s Empire