The ancient Greek civilisationFrom around 1450 B.C. to 200 B.C.

Digging into the past

The first of the ancient Greeks began in around 1450 B.C., however, they were known as Mycenaeans, and not Greeks. Greek stretched across the entire Mediterranean Sea!!

Themis Mnemosyne Crius Iapetus Oceanus Cronus Rhea Theia Hyperion Phoebe Coeus Tethys

Demeter Hades Zeus Poseidon Hestia Hera

Persephone Hebe Eilithyia Ares Hephaestus

Antiope

Amphion Zythos

Eurynome

The first god was actually Uranus, whose job was to cover Gaea with his starry coat, however, Gaea soon bore Uranus twelve Titans, but Uranus, sickened by his children, locks them all up in the pits of the earth. Gaea, upset, tells the youngest Titan, Cronus, to attack Uranus. Cronus cuts off his genitals and throws them into the sea, thus forming Aphrodite. Cronus has six children with his sister Rhea but eats everyone of them when they are born. Once again, Rhea is upset and exchanges Zeus, the youngest son with a stone. Cronus eats that and Zeus is able to escape.

Meet the Spartans!

Retrieved from: http://sites.google.com/site/bussinessmouse/sparta

Spartan warrior, also known as a hoplite.

The Spartans were a formidable fighting force! At just 7 years old, Spartan boys are sent away from their mothers to live in special training camps. There, they are kept cold and hungry, and forced to go barefoot. They also have to learn to bear pain and obey all answers without question. As for those who are on the, you know… more cowardly side, the’re called Tremblers and are forced to wear silly clothes. P.S. A person can hit a trembler whenever they feel like it. Let’s move on to the female Spartans! They also were very formidable, though they did not fight wars or join special training camps. They had GIRL POWER! They were trained to run and jump, and even to wrestle! And they strip off their clothes when they do athletics, just like the men! This is unusual because girls from other Greek cities were not allowed to do such things. Imagine if a girl from Athens saw this, she would most likely faint at the thought!

Retrieved from: Powell, A.P., & Steele, P.S. The greek news. London: Walker Books.

The navy

Greek trireme used for sea battles.

The navy is the Greek’s best fighting force. Many battles have been won because of these ships. A trireme has a pointed bronze ram at the front of the ship. The trireme will ram the enemy ship through its side, where the timbers are weakest, then, the captain leaves the enemy to ship to sink and its crew to drown.However, when the ship does not manage to ram the other ship, the trireme gets jammed together. This is when the ship relies upon its fighters, mainly the archers and the soldiers to fight on the enemy ship. Whereas the rowers, can only hide behind a leather curtain.But for those sailors out there, don’t be afraid, the pay is pretty good. You can earn as much as a skilled craftsman daily! Plus, if you serve in the navy, you can also take pride in serving the finest navies in the world!

Pointed bronze ram

Removable sails

Retrieved from: Powell, A.P., & Steele, P.S. The greek news. London: Walker Books.

A peek behind the scenes

Retrieved from: http://pauwwow.com/news/greek-fragments-for-the-first-timeRetrieved from: http://mythologywithcrampton-crampton.blogspot.com/2008_09_14_archive.html

Greek mask worn during a tragedy.

Greek plays were acted by men as women were not allowed. The reason for that was simple- men did not like their wife or daughters to be stared at on a stage-even though she wore a mask! Speaking of masks, Greek plays were full of them! Sad- looking masks for tragedies, silly- looking masks for comedies, every single play was acted with masks! One mask can change a man into runaway slaves, ugly monsters, or even fair maidens! Plus, masks also make the play more mysterious, by hiding the identity of the actor. Another unusual point about Greek plays is that there were ‘chorus actors’ on the theatre floor, telling the audience what was happening in the play. Most Greek plays had 12 chorus actors but some Greek plays had 50 chorus actors! Talk about spoiling the show!

Did you know?

Some comedies even made fun of silly or pompous leaders and politicians. Being laughed at in a play could seriously change the way a person behaves!

In deep thought…

In Ancient Greece, philosophy was pretty big there! There were many Greek philosophers then, some thought about the secret to happiness, that the world we live in is like a ‘shadow ‘ of the ideal world, while others had more practical ideas, like dear Democritus, 470- 380BC, who decided that everything was made of tiny particles or ‘atoms’! Full marks Democritus! However, some ideas were just barmy! Xenophanes, 570- 478BC, thought that the Earth was flat because that ‘s how it looks like, and that the sun doesn’t set. Instead, he felt that the sun just disappears in the distance, and a brand new sun appears the next morning. Rubbish! But not all philosophers were so popular, some, like Socrates, were sentenced to death for ‘introducing new gods and corrupting the young’. Socrates still refused to change his ways, though, and finally, he executed himself by drinking poison from a plant called hemlock. Pretty tragic…

Did you know?Philosophy means the lover of sophos, which means wisdom.

The End

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