Download Chapter 7 The Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece Greek Geography

Chapter 7
The Ancient Greeks
 Ancient Greece
 Greek Geography
 Mountains and seas, peninsula, many islands
 Farmers and fishers
 Minoans
 2500BC-1450BC
 Not Greek
 Lived in Crete
 Not sure why they ended
 Earthquakes?
 Invasion?
 Arthur Evans in AD1900 found a palace made for king Minos and so he called the people Minoans
 They sailed to Egypt and Syria to trade
 Mycenaean Kingdom
 2000BC Mycenaean left Asia to Greece
 Heinrich Schliemann, a German Historian, discovered ruins of a palace in Mycenae in AD1800
 King lived in a palace surrounded by a wall on a hill
 Nobles lived on farms, called estates
 Workers and slaves lived on these estates in villages
 Mycenaeans adopted Minoan culture
 Used sun/stars to navigate
 Worshipped Earth Mother (#1 god)
 Built ships
 1400BC Mycenaean conquered Minoans and Aegean area
 Dark Age
 Mycenaean fell 1100BC because…
 Fought with each other
 Earthquakes destroyed fortresses
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 Dorians
 Invaded Greece from the north
 Next 300 years is the Dark Age
 Negatives:
 Trade slowed
 Very poor people
 No selling
 No kept records because there is no writing
 Positives:
 Did iron work
 Hellenes
 750BC people who had fled, returned to Greece
 They called themselves Hellenes/Greeks
 Grew more food
 Trades with Egypt and Phoenicians
 Got a new alphabet from the Phoenicians
 24 letters
 Wrote down stories from bards
 Recovering from the Dark Age
 700BC Greek communities sent people to live outside Aegean Area, in colonies, because too many
people lived in Greece with not enough food to support them
 Between 750-550BC Greek culture spread to Italy, Sicily, France, Spain, North Africa, and West Africa
 At first they would barter with each other
 Then they created coins
 This made it easier and made people wealthier
 Nobles ruled many city-states (polis)
 Today we get police, politics, etc. from polis
 Agora was a marketplace outside the acropolis
 500BC, 300,000 people lived in Athens
 Greek Politics
 Free, land owning males citizens could
 Vote, hold public office, own property, and defend themselves in court
 Beginning of democracy today
 Soldiers
 Hoplites made up city-state army in 700BC
 Fought on foot
 Carried round shield, short sword, and spear
 Fought in phalanx (formation of shoulder-to-shoulder)
 Political Changes
 Nobles took too much control
 Farmers/artisans and hoplites supported tyrants when they went against the nobles for owing them too
much money (600BC)
 Most Greeks, however, wanted a government ruled by the people
 Tyrants ruled until 500BC
 Between 500BC-336BC city-states developed into oligarchies
 Two MAJOR city-states
 Sparta
 Athens
 Sparta: Military Society
 Peloponnesus Peninsula
 Economy based on agriculture
 Spartans invaded neighboring city-states and took slaves (helots)
 650BC helots failed and revolting against the Spartans
 Military:
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 Spartans prepared all boys and men for war (age 7) because they believed in discipline
 Men entered the army at 20 years old
 Married at 20 years old
 Lived in army barracks
 Ate “Black Broth” (pork boiled in animal blood, vinegar, and salt)
 Went home at 30, but continued to train
 Retired at 60
 Women enjoyed many freedoms because the men were away so often
 Owned property
 Played sports (wrestling and javelin)
 Government
 Oligarchy
 2 kings ruled
 An assembly
 All male citizens over 30 years
 Decisions on war and peace
 Council of Elders
 Most powerful body
 Judges (executions/exile)
 Elected 5 people each year to enforce
laws & collect taxes
 No visitors were allowed in Sparta
 People could not travel out of Sparta
 No literature or arts studies
 Used heavy iron bars for money, not coins
 Discouraged trade with other Greeks
 Remained a poor farming society
 Only goal was military strength and power
 Athens: A Long Democracy
 Northeast of Sparta (2 day trip away)
 Education
 Boys studied
 Arithmetic, geometry, drawing, music, and public speaking
 At 18 years old they took active roles in public affairs
 Girls studied
 Spinning, weaving, household duties
 Rich girls even learned to read, write, and play music
 594BC, Solon, a respected merchant, ended farmers debt and freed slaves after farmers became angry
because of the debt they owed
 Created assembly and courts opened to all males (400 rich people)
 560BC, tyrant Peisistratus took over (relative of Solon)
 Gave farmers land from estates
 Provided loans to farmers
 Gave citizenship to non-land owners
 Hired the poor to construct temples
 Wanted people to worship Athena
 Cleisthenes became the next leader after Peisistratus died
 Made the assembly the major governing body
 Council members only served one year terms and were chosen on a lottery basis
 More democratic
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 Persia
 Southwest Asia
 500BC-Cyrus the Great built and empire that
was the largest in the Ancient World
 540BC conquered
 Mesopotamia, Syria, Judah, and Greeks
 Allowed them to remain with their
customs and Jews could return to their
homeland
 Over the years Persia expanded to include
 Egypt, Western India, and lands
northeast of Greece
 Improved the network of roads in place by the
Assyrians to control all of their land (the size of
US)
 Most important road was the Royal
Road, 1,500 miles long from Persia to
Anatolia
 From one end to the other in 7 days (3
months before the road existed)
 Government
 Darius II (ruled 522BC-486BC) divided the empire into provinces called satrapies, ruled by a
satrap (governor)
 Military
 Persia had full-time, paid, professional army
 Compared to the Greeks’ citizens called to serve
 The best fighters in the army were 10,000 soldiers trained to guard the king
 Called the “Immortals” because when 1 died, another immediately took his place
 Religion was polytheistic until…
 Zoroaster, a religious teacher, in 600BC preached monotheistic religion called Zoroastrianism
 One god called Ahura Mazda “Wise Lord”
 Creator of all things and leader of the forces of good
 A person should choose good and bad in the world, but at the end good would prevail.
 The Persians began to view their monarchy as a sacred institution or role
 Today, Zoroastrianism has over 200,000 followers in South Asia.
 The Persian Wars
 During the 400sBC, the Persian conquests continued.
 However, they came to land owned by the Greeks
 499BC Greeks living Anatolia (governed by Cyrus), revolted
 Athenians sent warships to help them, but the Persians interceded and wanted to punish the mainland
Greeks for meddling in his empire
 490BC the Persians sent 20,000 soldiers to Marathon (in Greece)
 They waited for several days, but the Athenians never came
 Athenians had 10,000 soldiers; they probably didn’t want to get clobbered!
 The Persians prepared to leave (to attack Athens by sea) by filling their ships with their best soldiers first
 Then, SURPRISE!!! The Athenians came and caught them by surprise
 Legend says that a young messenger ran 25 miles to Athens to report the news, cried “victory!” and died.
Today, marathons are 26 miles and named after this battle
 The Persians wanted payback and vowed revenge!
 480BC Persian King Xerxes, invaded Greece with 200,000 troops and thousands of warships and vessels.
 King Leonidas of Sparta provided the troops and King Themistocles of Athens, devised the battle plan
and lead the troops
 King Leonidas led 7,000 men in a battle at Thermopylae for three days to cut off the enemy’s supply
ships, but didn’t succeed
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 Leonidas heard a traitor told the Persians about attacking from the back, so he sent all but 300
soldiers away and the rest remained
 This fight have Themistocles time to carry out his plan
 He figured these supply ships would gather in the Salamis strait near Athens
 Themistocles lead the Greek’s smaller, lighter, fewer ships against the larger, heavier, more Persian ships.
 The Greeks sank 300 Persian ships and only lost 40
 Persians set the city of Athens on fire when hardly citizens were found
 479BC the Greek’s army was more powerful than the Persians
 The Greeks learned new skills and streamlined their weapons
 At Plataea the Greeks and Persians fought again
 Each army with about 100,000 men
 The Greeks defeated the Persian army
 Fighting continued as the Greeks went on to free Anatolia from Persian rule
 Peace between the Persians and Greeks didn’t come until 449BC
 Decline of Persia
 Army was not as strong because of its losses
 The kings taxed the people too much for the palaces
 People grew uneasy and unhappy
 Alexander, a young and powerful ruler, ended the Persian Empire and a new Greek empire emerged in
300sBC
 Rule of Pericles
 461-429BC Athens thrives with its’ new leader Pericles
 Government
 Athenians practice direct democracy
 All citizens meet to debate and vote
 United States uses representative democracy today
 Citizens elect a smaller group of people, this group makes laws, represents them, and
governs
 Direct Democracy worked in Athens because the amount of citizens was low
 About 6,000 males attended every 10 days
 Ruled for more than 30 years
 Allowed middle and lower class citizens take part in the government
 Athens was rebuilt after the Persians destroyed it
 Arts and learned became important
 Pericles supported writers, artists, teachers, sculptures, philosophers and architects
 Athens was called “the School of Greece”
 Athenian Life
 Men
 Mornings: farmers, artisans, merchants
 Afternoons: exercising in the gymnasium
 Evenings: ate, drank, and discussed politics or philosophy
 Women
 Girls married during mid-teens
 Had children and took care of the home
 When women left the house they had to be escorted by a male relative
 Wealthy left during funerals or festivals, poor left to sell at the market or work on farms
 Many learned to read and play music
 Famous women was Aspasia who was known for her intelligence and charm
 She inspired Plato and Pericles
 Slavery
 Common, normal
 Most homes had at least 1, wealthy had many
 Some slaves could buy their freedom
 Slaves in the mines died young, slaves that were craftspeople had it easy
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 Economy
 Not enough room for farming
 Trade became a big part of the economy with their ships
Delian League
 Persians still were a threat to Greece
 478BC, Athens joined other city-states to form a defensive league
 The headquarters was at Delos
 Athens provided soldiers, others provided money and ships
 The Delian League got Persians out of all Greek territory
 The League failed because Athens controlled decisions made; 454BC the league was moved to Athens
 This made Sparta weary and worried that Athens would control all of Greece
Peloponnesian War
 Sparta became the leader of the group against Athens
 433BC allies of Sparta were interfered by Athens and pressured Sparta to attack
 431BC war broke out and continued until 404BC
 This is called the Peloponnesian War because Sparta was located in the Peloponnesus
 Athens could not work again for the sake of
Greece
Pericles’s Funeral Oration
 Pericles held a public funeral to mourn all fallen
soldiers
 Famous speech called Funeral Oration
 Reminded people that they made their
government strong
 They had to obey the rules of their
government
 Awarded certain rights when they paid
their taxes and helped defend their city
 The democratic way of life is worth
protecting
 Still valued by democratic countries today
Athens Loses
 Athens remained safe for 2 years because they stayed within the city walls and received goods from
colonies through ships (Sparta did not have a navy fleet)
 A disease broke out in the crowded city that killed 1/3 of its population, including Pericles
 Sparta made a deal with the Persians, promising Greek land in Anatolia if Sparta received enough gold to
build a navy
 Sparta built its navy and defeated the Athenians
 No more supplies could enter Athens
 Sparta surrounded the walls of the city
 Athenians became weak and surrendered a year later
 The Athenian Empire collapsed
Effects of the Peloponnesian War
 Governments were divided and weak
 Many people died from disease or in battle
 Farms were destroyed
 Many Greeks had to join the Persian Army with no way to earn a living
 Sparta governed to violently and this angered its allies
 During the next 30 years Sparta fought many of the allies and Persia again
 371BC Thebes seized Sparta and ended the empire
 10 years later, Thebes also collapsed
 With all the turmoil, no one noticed Macedonia to the north
 A threat to Greek’s independence
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