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Chapter 1 Section 1
The Persian Wars
 By 500 B.C. Athens was the richest Greek city
state
 490 B.C. the Persians attacked Greece
 Athenians defeated the Persians
 Ten years later, a much larger Persian force lands
in Greece
 Sparta and other city-states join the battle
Battle of Thermopylae (300)
 Persians win some battles, burn Athens, but
Greek fleet smashes Persian Navy
 A year later Greeks defeat Persians on land in
Asia Minor
Athens in the Age of Pericles
 460 B.C. – 429 B.C. the age of Pericles
 Athens prospered during the age of Pericles
 Pericles built nice temples in Athens
 Athens had direct democracy
 Assembly met several times a month
 Pericles believed that all male citizens,
regardless of wealth or social class, should take
part in government.
 Athenians served on juries
 Juries were made up of thousands of citizens
over 30
Funeral Oration
 Pericles stressed not only the rights but the duties
of the individual
 Pericles’ Funeral Oration is one of the earliest
and greatest expression of democratic ideals
Peloponnesian War
 War between Athens and Sparta
 War raged for 27 years
 404 B.C. Sparta captured Athens
 Democratic government suffers, corruption and
selfishness replace old ideals
Greek Philosophers
 Greek thinkers challenged the belief that events
were caused by the gods.
 Used observation and reason to determine why
things happen.
 Greeks called themselves philosophers, which
means “lovers of wisdom”
Moral and Ethical Principles
 Some Greek philosophers focused on ethics and
morality.
 A group of thinkers called Sophists questioned
accepted ideas about morality.
 Sophists thought success was more important.
 Sophist ideas spread among the younger
Athenians.
Socrates and citizenship
 Athenian philosopher Socrates, was an
outspoken critic of the Sophists.
 Went around Athens questioning people about
their beliefs.
 Put on trial, convicted, and sentenced to death
for corrupting the youth.
 Accepted death because he was a loyal citizen of
Athens.
Plato and Reason
 Angry about Socrates death, left Athens for 10
years.
 Believed reason, not experience lead to
knowledge.
 Divided society into 3 classes: Soldiers, workers,
and philosophers.
 Philosophers ruled in Plato’s society.
Aristotle and Rule of Law
 Analyzed forms of government.
 Preferred government by many not few.
 Believed that rulers had to follow the same laws
as everyone else.
Alexander and the Hellenistic Age
 After Plato died, Aristotle moved to Macedonia.
 Aristotle tutored the King’s son, Alexander.
 Macedonian King, Phillip II, dreamed of
conquering Greece and Persia.
Conquest of Persia
 Alexander became king after his father died, he
was only 20.
 Like his father, Alexander wanted to conquer
Persia.
 With his army, he set out across Asia Minor in
334 B.C.
 By 327 B.C. he conquered an Empire that
stretched more than 2000 miles.
 Became known as Alexander the Great.
Legacy of Alexander
 Alexander dies by a sudden fever.
 His empire was divided into 3 parts.
 Alexander founded new cities.
 Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Indian cultures
blended into one called the Hellenistic.
 A new philosophy called stoicism starts; they
believe that all people were equal because they
all had the power to reason.
 Rome emerged as a powerful new state, after
Rome’s conquest of Asia Minor in 133 B.C. It
replaced Greece as the dominant power.
 Greek ideas about law, freedom, justice, and
government have influenced the world to this
day