Download Sparta and Greece Section 2

Ancient Greece
Geography and Early Greece
Section 1
The geography of Greece is a peninsula surrounded by many islands in an area of
the Mediterranean Sea called the Aegean Sea. The land of Greece is rocky and
mountainous, all of which isolated communities in such a way that they developed
into city-states with their own government and culture.
The Greeks trace their culture back to the Minoans who lived on the island of Crete.
They were not considered Greek because they did not speak the Greek language, but
they did influence later Greek culture. They were excellent ship builders and
became rich through trade. A volcanic eruption in the 1600s caused giants waves
and volcanic ash to kill crops and weaken the Minoans and eventually the end of the
Minoan civilization.
The Mycenaeans who lived on the mainland of Greece took over the island of Crete,
built fortresses and set up colonies in the Mediterranean and Black Sea and traded
their olive and grape crops for other goods from these colonies. The Mycenaeans
were not always peaceful and were believed to have fought the Trojan War in 1200.
After the war, the Greeks fell into a period of warfare and decline called the Dark
Ages.
Around 800 BC, people began to settle near each other in city-states or polis for
protection. The polis fortress was usually built on the acropolis or high hill where
people would go to hide from invaders. The agora was the central part of the city
where the day to day activities took place, like political meeting buying and
selling of goods and religious gatherings.
Government of Athens
Section 2
The government of Athens began with a few aristocrats served as judges and made
the laws, called an oligarchy. In the 600s BC, people tried to overthrow the
aristocrats. They failed and a leader named Draco made some very harsh laws. In
590s another leader, Solon created a less harsh set of laws stating that all free men
living in Athens were citizens and had the right to participate in government.
After people became dissatisfied with the rule of the aristocrats, they gave support
to one leader, a tyrant who took control by force with the support of the people and
the military. Tyrants were not always bad and some made many improvements.
Around 500s BC, a leader named Cleisthenes thought aristocrats had too much
power and developed the world’s first democracy, a type of government in which
the people rule themselves. Cleithenes is called the father of democracy. Under
Cleithenese, people had the right to assemble and create and debate laws.
Athens remained a democracy for about 170 years and reached its peak under
Pericles who led the government from about 460 BC to 429 BC Pericles encouraged
people to take part in government and began to pay people to serve on juries and in
public office.
Athens had a direct democracy where each person gathers to debate issues and
vote on laws. Majority rules.
In the United States, we have a representative Democracy in which citizen elect
officials to make laws and to represent them in government.
Greek Mythology and Literature
Section 3
Ancient Greeks used mythology, a body of stories about gods and heroes to try
to explain how the world works. The Greeks believed the gods caused events
like thunder and earthquakes, and had human emotions like jealously, and anger.
Therefore, people built temples and worship the gods to keep them happy.
Early Greek writers created long epic poems, like Homer’s Iliad the story of the
Trojan War and Odyssey, romantic poetry like Sappho’s lyric poetry, and fables,
stories that teach the reader a lesson or gives them advice by Aesop.
Greek World Greece and Persia
Section 1
Cyrus the Great won independence for Persia and began the Persian Empire east of
Greece. This territory covered most of Southwest Asia, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia
and many Greek cities and allowed the conquered peoples to keep their own
customs.
Cyrus had a strong, organized army that used strategies like cavalry (soldiers on
horseback) and an elite fighting force of very brave and skilled soldiers known as
the Immortals.
After Cyrus’s son was killed, Darius I took power and organized the empire into 20
provinces with satraps or governors in charge. Even though these satraps were in
charge of the provinces, Darius called himself the king of kings to remind other
rulers of his great power. Darius also build roads like the 1700 mile long Royal
Road which messengers used to enable quick communication with distant areas of
the empire.
In 499 BC several Greek city-states rebelled against Persia and city-states from the
mainland. Although the Persians were able to put down the rebellion, Darius swore
revenge on the Greeks. In 490 BC the Persian attack the Greeks at Marathon. Though
outnumbered, the Greeks won the battle due to their superior weapons and leaders.
A runner ran 26 miles to Athens to exclaim, “Nike!” (victory) and died of exhaustion.
In 480 BC, Darius’s son Xerxes I attacked the Greeks. Vastly outnumbered, a small
number of Greeks, led by the Spartans, fought a battle to the death at the narrow
mountain pass of Thermopylae. The Greeks were all killed and the Persians
marched to Athens and burned the city. Despite the loss, the Greeks fought
heroically and were able to slow the Persians so that the rest of the Greek forces
could regroup. The Athenian (Greek) navy defeated the Persian navy at Salamis, and
the Persians navy limped back to Persia. The Greeks had won the Persian War.
Sparta and Greece
Section 2
Back in Greece, the two most powerful city-states were Athens and Sparta. Their
cultures were very different.
Spartan life was dominated by the army. Courage and strength were the highest
values. Unhealthy babies were taken outside the city and left to die. Boys who
survived were trained from an early age to be a soldier. Boys ran, jumped, swam and
threw javelins to increase strength. Men between the ages of 20 and 30 lived in
army barracks and only occasionally visited their families. Spartan men served in
the army until they turned 60.
Because Spartan men were away at war so often, women had more rights than other
Greek women. Women owned much of the land in Sparta and ran the households.
Women also trained in athletic events and even competed with the men.
Slaves grew the city’s crops and did many other jobs. Although slave outnumbered
Spartan citizens, fear of the army kept the slaves from rebelling.
Athenians admire the mind. Sparta’s main rival was Athens. Although Athens had
a powerful military and valued physical training, they also prized education, clear
thinking, and the arts. They believed studying the arts mad people better citizens..
They learned to read write, count as well as sign and play instruments. Boys from
wealthy families had private tutors to teach them geometry, philosophy, astronomy
and public speaking. Despite Athens reputation for freedom and democracy,
Athenian women had almost no rights at all.
Spartans and Athens fight After the Persian Wars, ,any Greek city-states joined an
alliance or agreement to work together, to defend each other and help protect
trade. With its navy protecting the islands Athens was the most powerful member.
In 431 BC Sparta formed its own alliance and declared war on Athens The
Peloponnesian War that followed Athenians won at first but were forced to
surrender in 404 BC Sparta controlled Greece for about 30 years but resentment
from other city-states led to a long period of war that weakened Greece and left it
open to attack from the outside.
Alexander the Great
Section 3
Macedonia Conquers Greece
About 360 BC, Philip II of Macedonia invaded Athens and won easily. The rest of
Greece surrendered. Philip’s victory resulted from his military strategy and
weaponry. He used a phalanx, a group of warriors who stood together in a
square giving each soldier spear 16 feet long as well as the cavalry and
archers. Philip planned to conquer Persia but was murdered in 336 BC and his
thrones passed to his son 20 year old Alexander.
Alexander builds an empire.
After Philip died, the people in the Greek city of Thebes rebelled. Alexander attacked
Thebes and enslaved the Theban people to set an example for the other Greek city-
states. Alexander went on to defeat the Persians and drive them out of Egypt. Before
his death at 33 years of age, Alexander the Great had built an empire stretching from
the Adriatic Sea west to India and to the Upper Nile in the south.
Alexander admired Greek culture and ideas and worked to spread Greek
influence by founding cities in the lands he conquered and naming many after
himself. He encouraged Greeks to settle these news cities and bring their language
and culture, although he did allow the conquered people to keep their own customs
as well. The new blended culture developed and was called Hellenistic or Greek-like.
It was not purely Greek but it was heavily influenced by Greek ideas.
Alexander died unexpectedly without an obvious heir. His generals fought for
power. Eventually it was divided by three of his generals into three Hellenistic
kingdoms Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt. Hellenistic culture flourished in all three
kingdoms, but Egypt became the center for culture and learning until all three
kingdoms eventually fell to the Romans between 60 and 30 BC
Achievements
Section 4
The ancient Greeks valued philosophy and art. Known for their painting and
statues, Greek sculptors studied the human body, especially how it looks moving.
Greek artists painted detailed scenes on vases, pots and other vessels. The remains
show how much care the Greeks took in designing their buildings like the
Parthenon, the beautiful temple to Athena of the Acropolis. Greek writers
created new literary forms including drama and history and wrote tragedies, stories
of the hardships the Greek heroes faced, and comedies which made fun of people
and their ideas.
Philosophy Around 500BC a few people began to think about other explanations for
the world other than that events were cause by the gods and goddesses. These
people are called philosophers who believe in the power of the human mind to
think, explain and understand life. Socrates believed that people must never stop
looking for knowledge. He taught by asking questions and challenged their answers.
People began to question their own beliefs which angered and frightened the
leaders of Athens. They accused him of questioning the authority of the gods
and sentenced him to death by drinking poison, a fate which Socrates calmly
accepted.
Socrates’ student Plato, created a school called the Academy to which students could
come to discuss ideas. Plato’s student, Aristotle taught people to live lives of
moderation and balance based on reason, clear and ordered thinking.
Science Euclid studied geometry, the study of lines, angles, and shapes.
Hippocrates was the greatest Greek doctor wanted to figure out what cause
diseases so he could treat them better and had ideas of how doctors should behave
and treat their patients. Archimedes invented the water screw which was a device
that brought water from a low level to a higher one.