Download Notes

Chapter 8 lesson 2
Notes
The Rise of Greek Cities
I. Greek city-states
A. Between 1100 B.C. to 400 B.C., historians know very little about the
people of Greece.
1. very few artifacts remain from this time period
B. Greek city-states are called polis.
C. In most Greek city-states a few wealthy men made the decisions for the
entire city and surrounding areas.
1. This is called an oligarchy.
D. Greek city-states were built around an acropolis. Page 197
1. People would go to trade in a place called an agora.
E. People who held political power had to be citizens of their polis.
F. The two most important Greek cit-states were Athens and Sparta.
G. Sparta centered around war and the strength of its military.
1. Sparta covered much of southern Peloponnesus and was Greece’s
largest city-state by 700 B.C.
2. Many times, slaves or helots, of Sparta out numbered the free
people of Sparta. (7:1)
3. Around 600 B.C. Sparta’s slaves revolt against them.
4. Sparta put a lot of effort into becoming the strongest military in
Greece.
5. Women and children also had a role in making Sparta a strong
military power.
H. Athens became famous for its use of Democracy
1. Before becoming an oligarchy, Athens had been a monarchy.
2. Monarchy comes from two Greek words meaning, “rule by one.”
3. Poorer citizens demanded a stronger voice in the government.
4. Athenians created the world’s first known democracy.
5. Democracy comes from the combining of two Greek words
meaning, “rule by the people.”
I. All Greek city states shared a similar culture
1. Ancient Greeks were polytheist.
2. The most powerful gods and goddesses were believed to live on
Mount Olympus. (a mountain in northern Greece)
3. People of Athens worship Athena.
4. All Greeks loved the stories of Homer.
a. Live between 800 and 700 B.C.
b. Wrote the Iliad and Odyssey.
5. People all over Greece worshipped Zeus. (The most powerful god
in the Greek religion)
J. The Greeks held the first Olympic Games over 3,000 years ago.
1. The Greeks create the Olympics to honor Zeus.
2. Early Olympic Games only consisted of one race and only lasted
for one day.
3. Later other races, along with wrestling, jumping, spear and discus
throwing, boxing, and chariot races were added.
4. The later Olympics lasted for five days.
5.
Only men were allowed to compete and watch the events.
6. Ancient games consisted of more than just athlete competition.
(music and theater)
7. Held every four years.
8. All Greeks City-states put aside differences to compete.
9. By A.D. 400 the games were not longer played.
II. Greek colonies
K. As the Greek population increased, Greeks began to leave Greece and
settle in other areas.
1. These settlements are called colonies.
2. Colonies are areas made up people who maintain contact with their
homeland.
3. Greek colonies were important trading partners.
L. By 500 B.C. Greeks colonies could be found all over the Mediterranean
World.
M. Many Greeks colonies were located on Asia Minor.
N. The growing Persian Empire became a threat to many of these Greek
colonies.