SSWH3The student will examine the political, philosophical, and cultural interaction of Classical Mediterranean societies
form 700 BCE to 400 CE.
GREECE GEOGRAPHY:
Click icon to add picture
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:
Click icon to add picture
• 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
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
Top Related