Ancient Greece

Tara Madsen

The Development of Greek City-States and overview

• Most of the Greek peninsula and nearby islands are mountainous.

• In some areas, river valleys cut through the mountains, then there are some areas that have small plains.

• In ancient times, groups began to settle in these valleys and plains and due to the mountainous region, these groups were isolated from each other.

• Over time, these isolated groups developed independent city-states.

• Many Greeks earned their living from the sea and thus they became excellent sailors.

• Their trading network spread the length and width of the Mediterranean Sea… this eventually caused people to set up colonies along the Mediterranean.

• Merchants moved to new colonies in order to start up trading businesses and between 1100 BCE and 750 BCE, Greece’s population saw great decline. (Probably because of invasion) DARK AGES

Ancient Civilizations• Pre Dark Ages= 2800-1450 BCE: Minoans

1600-1100 BCE: Mycenaean's 1100-750 BCE: Dark Ages

Minoans: Developed on the island of Crete, ruled by a king and its economy was based on trade. Minoan paintings detail their lives and they were eventually conquered by the Mycenaean's from the Greek Mainland.

Mycenaeans: This civilization was made up by a number of independent royal centers, each was headed by a king who lived in a walled palace on a hill. The people lived in scattered settlements around the palace. Their civilization was based on trade… they traded gold, bronze daggers, beads and pottery. They collapsed because of warfare among rival kings and invaders from the north.

Dark Ages: They are called the Dark Ages because few records have been found about this time period. The Iliad, however, may be rooted in truth. The Iliad is a poem by Homer about the Trojan War. Archaeologist have not been able to prove or disprove its story. The Greeks won the war by hiding soldiers in a huge wooden horse that was went to Troy as a “gift”. The Trojans wheeled the horse inside their city walls and at night the Greek soldiers crawled out of the horse, seized the city, and burned it down.

Greek City-States• The Greek city-states was called a polis… it was both a place and a

governing body.

• The English word politics actually comes from the Greek word polis.

• City-states were built on a hill… at the top of the hill was an area called the acropolis.

• Temples and public buildings were built there… the rest of the city was built below the acropolis on flat land.

• One area of the city was kept as open space… it was called the agora… citizens assembled there for meetings and used it as a marketplace

• The earliest city-states were monarchies ruled by kings… some men actually became wealthy because of the amount of land they owned.

• Land = Wealth = Power…. These wealthy land owners were known as aristocrats, they were able to over throw the king and set up an Oligarchy.

• Generally the rulers of the Oligarchy were selected by other members of the aristocracy and only ruled for a certain term (President)

• In the 500s BCE, tyrants rose to power.

• Although we typically think of a tyrant as being a cruel ruler, this was not always the case.

• In ancient Greece, A tyrant was a government ruled by one man.

• This was actually the first step towards Democracy… Tyrants were typically caring and fair rulers. In some cities like Athens, tyrants made important reforms to help the poor…

• Overall, Greeks left absolute rule in favor of Democracy

Sparta: The Military Polis

• Over time, Sparta and Athens became the most important city-states in Greece.

• During the 700s BCE, Sparta became a military polis.

• Harsh laws governed all parts of Spartans’ lives.

• Boys were trained to be military soldiers from childhood… starting at age 7 they would be sent to live in barracks.. They lived their whole lives there and at age 20 they could marry and become actual sodiers.

• Women and girls also had roles in the military state… their job was to marry and have strong healthy children.

• Women had to take part in vigorous exercise to ensure a healthy fetus.

• Sparta’s government and army were headed by two kings… the real power lay with a council of five men called ephors.

• These men managed the government… there was also a council of elders made up of 2 kings and 28 citizens over the age of 60… they could vote (not discuss issues)

• Only native born men over the age of 30 were considered citizens

• The only job for a Spartan citizen was a soldier.

• Other jobs, such as farming, was done by helots… these were people captured in battle and enslaved.

• In order to protect their way of life, Sparta cut itself off from the rest of the world… travel was forbidden and visitors from the outside were not welcome.

• The study of literature, arts and philosophy were not encouraged because they felt as if new ideas could be dangerous.

Athens (Limited Democracy)• The earliest government of Athens was a Monarchy. In the 700s BCE, an

oligarchy of aristocrats replaced the king.

• 9 of the wealthiest families in Athens made up this ruling council. As assembly of citizens elected the nine oligarchs who served for a period of time.

• Between 560 and 510 BCE, tyrants ruled over Athens. By 512 BCE, Cleisthenes had enough support to gain control of the government.

• He reorganized Athens’ government and is regarded as the founder of Athenian democracy.

• Native born women were considered citizens but they could not vote… slaves were not considered citizens.

Government set up by Cleisthenesmembers duties

Assembly: male citizens… 18 yrs + debate/pass laws… elect officials.. Decide on war and foreign policy

Council of 500: 500 citizens chosen by a lottery… Prepare laws for debate by the

50 people from each tribe assembly and carry out decisions

Law Court : 600 citizens chosen by lottery serve as a judge/jury for trials

Board of Generals: 10 generals elected by the Assembly advise the Assembly/ lead army and navy

• Most families in Athens could afford a slave or two… many worked in homes cooking and cleaning.

• The enslaved were also used for farm work

• By 400s BCE, Athens was an important trading center… it grew much of its own food but it also imported grain in large amounts.

• Some good that they traded were wine and olive oil.

QUICK QUESTIONS

• What forms of government were developed by the Greek city-states?

• What was life like for Spartans?

• Why is Athenian democracy called limited democracy?

Classical Greece

• Between 500 BCE and 338 BCE, the Greeks developed a Classical civilization…

• They made great contributions to the arts and science… they also increased their power and fought in two costly wars.

War with Persia• By the mid 500s BCE, Persia had taken control of the Greek colonies of Iona (what is now

Turkey)

• The war between Greece and Persia began over the control of these colonies…

• In 499 BCE, the Athenian navy helped the Ionian colonies to rebel… the Persians crushed the revolt.

• Darius, the Persian king, was angered that Athens had sent ships to help the rebels… in 490 BCE he sent the Persian army to DESTROY Athens.

• They ended up meeting on the plain of Marathon… 480 BCE, Darius’ son Xerxes ordered the Persian army/navy to go to war with Athens again… Athens along with its allies won.

• The following year, Athens formed the Delian League… it was an alliance with other Greek City-States… its purpose was to take back control of the colonies.

Age of Pericles

• Athens reached its greatest glory in the years between the Persian wars and the Peloponnesian War. (Age of Pericles)

• Pericles was a general (Board of Generals) and was a public speaker.

• Although he was an aristocrat, he focused on reforms that helped the poor people.

• He was a supporter of the arts and during this time the Parthenon was built.

• Under Cleisthenes, Athens became a direct democracy with citizens taking part in governing.

• The Assembly met every 10 days to discuss and vote on issues… the meetings were held where people could attend…

• This is considered a limited democracy since women and children could not vote.

The Peloponnesian War• While the Delian League was freeing the Greek colonies, Athens was

attempting to create an empire…. They ended up moving the treasury to Athens.

POWER OF THE PURSE= whoever has the money, has the power… remember this…

Instead of using money for the Delian League… Athenians used it to rebuild their city… if a city-state tried to leave the League, they were stopped by soldiers.

Because of this, Sparta quickly became an enemy of Athens. Sparta formed the Peloponnesian League and in 431 BCE, they went to war.

• Athenian leaders decided to keep its army within the city walls and out last the Spartans.

• The Spartans were obviously stronger fighters, they waited around the city walls for 2 years!

• In the second year, a plague broke out and killed 1/3 of the Athenian population… (Killed Pericles)

• Sparta joined with Persia and prevented the city from getting any food… the city finally surrendered in 404 BCE

• Greek literature began with Homer’s two epics about the fall of Troy (Iliad and Odyssey), they also had plays that depicted tragedies and comedies. They used these plays to discuss world ideas and philosophies from guys like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

Philosophers• Socrates (470-339 BCE): he used questions to get people to

think… teaching by asking questions is known as the Socratic method… it is still used by colleges and HS today.

• Plato (427-347 BCE): Taught that reality is made up of ideals… ideal governments would have 3 things, kings… soldiers… and workers. He also thought that women and men should be equal. His famous writing is called The Republic

• Aristotle (348-322 BCE): He rejected Plato’s concepts of the three ideals… Based on his research, he felt that the best ways to govern were: Monarchy, aristocracy and constitutional government (constitution being the best) His ideas influenced the west until around 1600 CE.

QUICK QUESTIONS

• How did the leaders of Athens use the Persian Wars to benefit Athens?

• How did Pericles expand the Athenian Democracy?

• What effect did the Peloponnesian War have on the Greek City-States?

• What contributions did classical Greece make to world culture?

• How did the desire for territory and power cause both Persian and Peloponnesian wars?

Alexander the Great and Hellenism

• The Peloponnesian war weakened all of the Greek city-states.

• Over the next 60 years, they fought with one another… (Internal dissent causes invasion)

• King Philip II of Macedonia took advantage of the conflict and in 338 BCE, his army defeated Athens and its ally Thebes… he had bribed all of the other city-states with money… Athens is the only one he had to go to war with.

• After conquering Greece, his next goal was the Persian Empire… unfortunately he was assassinated before he could attack.

• Philip’s son Alexander became king at age 20.

• He was well trained and also a student of Aristotle.

• He launched an invasion of the Persian Empire… between 334 and 326 BCE, Alexander brought under his control all the modern nations of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

• He then attacked India… fighting Indians on elephants was too much for the Macedonians, they refused to continue and Alexander agreed to go back.

• He died three years later from a fever and his empire was divided by four generals.

Hellenistic World• Hellenism was the adoption of the Greek language and culture by the peoples

Alexander conquered.

• Alexander spread Greek culture and ideas wherever he went and the result was a Hellenistic Era.

• Achievements of the Hellenistic Era:

Pythagoras figured out how to find the sides of a right triangle, Euclid developed the basic principles of geometry, Eratosthenes determined that the Earth was a sphere and figured out its circumference, Archimedes determined the value of pi, Aristarchus determined that the Earth rotated on an axis and orbited around the sun.

Quick Questions

How did Philip II gain control of Greece?

How large was Alexander’s empire?

What is Hellenism?