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Chapter 7 Greek City – States and the Golden Age
Words to Know
Tyrant – A ruler who has complete power
Democracy – A government that gives the people the ruling power.
Myth – A story, often about gods or goddesses, that is handed down through the years and is
sometimes used to explain natural events.
Citizen – A person who has certain rights and duties because he or she lives in a particular city
or town.
Revolt – To rise up against a government, to refuse to obey the people in charge.
Constitution – The basic laws and rules of a government.
Jury – A group of people who listen to the facts and decide if a person on trial is guilty or not
guilty.
Plague – A deadly disease that spreads quickly.
Athlete – a person trained to take part in competitive sports. The ancient Greek word athlete
means “one who tries to win a prize in a contest.”
Most early civilizations were mainly farming societies. The Greek civilization, however, was
different. Greece is a very rocky land with many mountains. Much of Greece made poor
farmlands. The Greeks could not grow much wheat of other grains. Instead they raised
grapevines and olive trees.
Greece is surrounded by the sea on almost every side. The Greeks took to the sea and became
traders. The Aegean and the Mediterranean seas made perfect travel routes. The Greeks
traded with most of the Mediterranean world. Greek traders set up colonies in the lands that
they visited. Greek culture spread across the seas.
Greek harbors were always busy. Merchants traded olive oil for wheat. Ships from Egypt
unloaded Papyrus. Ebony and Ivory came in from Africa.
Greek City – States
The earliest people who settled in Greece began to build villages about 1500 B.C. As time
passed the small villages grew into city – states. Through trading the city – states became
wealthy. By 750 B.C., the Greeks had begun to build colonies in other areas of the
Mediterranean. Some Greeks settled on the Greek Islands, others established colonies as far
as southern Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. They built cities in the colonies they settled.
These cities included Naples, Syracuse, and Marseilles. Cities were also built in western
Turkey, and on the Shores of the Black Sea.
On the Greek mainland, the city – states were becoming more powerful. The city – states were
becoming more powerful. The city – states were separated from each other by rugged mountain
ranges. For this reason, there was limited contact between the city – states. Each one
developed in its own way.
Each city – state had its own government. Each had its own ideas about the way people should
live. Some of the city – states were ruled by Tyrants, a single powerful person. Some of the
tyrants were cruel and unjust, while others ruled fairly. The first democracy developed in the city
– state. There citizens could vote and have a say in the government.
Because of their differences, the city – states often fought amongst themselves. Tyrants with big
ideas would decide that the time had come to expand their rule. They would make plans to
attack a nearby city – state. They might convince other city – states to join them. There was a
constantly shifting pattern of friendship and hostility between the different city – states. This was
a very unstable political situation. It would later lead to a major war between two of the largest
city – states Athens and Sparta.
The Acropolis
Each city –state was made up of a city circled by villages and farms. The farms provided food
for the citizens. The city offered protection from invaders. The Greeks usually built their cities
near a high hill. The hill was called an Acropolis. On that hill, they built special buildings to
include temples and theaters.
The Athenians built a beautiful temple atop their Acropolis. It was built to honor the goddess
Athena. The temple was called the Parthenon.
Athens and Sparta
Athens and Sparta were the two most powerful Greek city – states. Their citizens spoke the
same language and worshiped the same gods. They told myths or stories about their gods and
goddesses. However, life in the two cities was surprisingly different.
Spartan society was a military society. Sparta’s government was led by a small group of men.
The primary focus of the city – state was to maintain a powerful army. Spartan children
belonged to the state. A healthy boy was turned over to the government at the age of seven. He
was raised to be a soldier. He was taught to fight and endure pain. He was required to obey
orders without question. Soldiers defeated in battle were not allowed to return home.
Those boys unfit for military duty due to a physical disability were often times left on a hillside to
die. Spartans had little use for girls. Girls and women were rarely seen in public. They kept to
their houses. Spartans were great military men but in the areas of art and music the Spartans
left little for the present to see and enjoy.
The Spartans like most Mediterranean peoples kept slaves. Most of the work in the city was
performed by slave labor. The Spartan army was kept busy fighting other city – states. At other
times they were used to keep the slave population of Sparta in line.
Although life was harsh in Sparta, things were very different in Athens. The Athenians gave less
thought to warfare. They were more interested in enjoying life.
Athens was a wealthy city. The Athenians decided that their wealth gave them more time to
enjoy the beauties of life. They wanted their city to be glorious. They built the Parthenon. Their
marble statues showed the human body in its ideal form. The Athenians put on plays in huge
outdoor theaters. For the first time, plays were written about how people thought and acted.
Some of these plays are still performed today.
The Athenians asked questions about their world. Great teachers like Socrates, led the Greeks
to ask “Why” things happened the way they did. And from the answers came learning. Some
Greeks even questioned slavery. That slavery might be wrong was a brand new idea and quite
revolutionary as most ancient people used slaves as laborers.
Greek Religion
The Greeks believed that people were very important. They celebrated the human body and the
human mind. In the Greek mythology, the Gods were much like humans. The Greeks
worshipped many Gods and Goddesses. Each had a name and a personality. The home of the
Greek Gods was Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in all of Greece. The Gods laughed and
enjoyed life. They also argued, were jealous and tricked each other and the humans they ruled.
Zeus was the king of the Greek gods. His wife was Hera, queen of the gods. The Parthenon on
the Athens Acropolis was built to honor Athena. She was the Goddess of wisdom and learning.
The Greeks told myths, which explained things in nature. They told the doings of the gods and
goddesses.
Democracy
In Athens in the early years, government was in the hands of landowners. If a man owned land,
he was a citizen. He had a voice in the running of the city – state. As the city grew many
merchants, and business people, shippers and traders became wealthy. These groups did not
own land but they wanted to have a say in how the city government was run. They wanted to be
citizens. A revolt led to a new government. In 508 B.C. this government drew up an Athenian
constitution. Under the new laws, all free men were citizens. Women and slaves, however, did
not have the right of Citizenship.
A citizen had the right to vote. He was also expected to hold office if called upon, sit on juries,
and serve in the army. Though Athenian government was a government “by the people”, the
fact that so many of the people (slaves and women) were excluded from citizenship makes one
wonder if the term democracy in ancient Greece really did apply.
The Persian Wars
As the Greek city – states grew wealthier and more powerful, The Persian Empire under its king
Cyrus the Great had become the strongest military power in the world. In 546 B.C., Persia
attacked and conquered the Greek colonies in Lydia. This is along the coast of present day
Turkey. About 50 years later, the Greeks in Lydia revolted. King Darius of Persia attacked and
crushed their revolt. He then sent a huge army to invade Greece.
In 490 B.C. the Persian armies headed for Athens. On the plain of Marathon, the Athenians beat
the Persians who fled from Greece. An excited Greek ran the 25 miles from Marathon to Athens
to proclaim the victory. An Olympic event of today is named after that run from Marathon to
Athens.
Ten years later, Xerxes the son of Darius decided to continue the war and led an even greater
army into Greece. The Greek city – states put aside their quarrels to fight the common enemy.
Xerxes’s navy attacked. The Greeks fought the Persians long and hard. Yet the Persian army
was too strong. Xerxes men attacked the city of Athens next. In 480 B.C. they destroyed the
Parthenon and burned much of the beautiful city.
Xerxes left Athens thinking that he had won the war. He was wrong and his navy was
subsequently defeated by the Greek navy, in a great sea battle, at the harbor of Salamis. The
Greek victory at Salamis sent the Persians back across the Aegean Sea. Greece was then left
to enjoy a time of peace.
The Golden Age
The peace following the Persian Wars lasted for about 50 years. During that time, Athens grew
in power and strength to become one of the greatest city – state in Greece. Athens collected
money from the other city – states for protection. Athens insisted that their navy must be kept
strong if Greece was to be protected.
A great Athenian leader Pericles rose to power in 461 B.C., Pericles helped the Athenians
continue their democratic government. He used some of the money collected from the other city
– states to rebuild the Parthenon.
Athens flowered under the leadership of Pericles. It was the time known as the Golden Age of
Athens. The Athenians at peace now, had the time to study science and geography. They wrote
their greatest plays and created their finest statues.
Athens, during its golden age, was one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Many other
Greek city – states followed the Athenians’ way of life and their ideas of democracy.
Sparta, however, continued as a military state. The Spartans did not like the way the Athenians
were becoming more powerful. They were also angry over the fact that the Athenians were
collecting money from the rest of Greece.
The Peloponnesian War
Peace ended in 431 B.C., when Sparta led some other city – states against Athens. Sparta was
a land power with a strong army. Athens was a sea power. Most of Athens’ strength lay in its
navy. During this war both Sparta and Athens fought each other for the control of Greece, The
war was given its name after the Peloponnesus, the part of Greece in which Sparta was located.
The war went on for 27 years. The Spartans tried to cut off supplies to Athens to starve the
people. The Athenians held on even though the Spartans had the better army.
What spelt defeat for the Athenians was a plague which broke out in the city of Athens. One –
Fourth of the Athenian people died during the plague. Their leader Pericles was one of those
who died. With the loss of Pericles and the other people who died as a result of the plague,
Athens could no longer hold out against the Spartans. In 404 B.C., Athens surrendered to
Sparta.
Gifts from the Greeks
Greek thought and Greek works are very much a part of life today. Greek ideas in building
appear in our own buildings. Greek statues still influence today’s artists. The style of art and
architecture the Greek’s developed is called the “classical style”.
The works of Greek thinkers like Aristotle, Plato and Socrates are still being read today. The
Greeks were the first people to ask what the world was made of. The Greeks developed ideas
about the sun, the earth and the stars.
Eratosthenes and Aristarchus described the shape of the earth and its place in the solar system.
Euclid and Pythagoras helped invent Geometry.
We can also that the Greeks for a model of a democracy. “Our government is called a
democracy because power is in the hands of the whole people,” said the Athenian leader
Pericles.
Greek words and ideas show up in our own language. Astronomy, biology, geography, and
geology are all taken from the Greek language. So are the words music, theater, drama,
comedy and tragedy.
The word athlete comes from the Greeks too. Our Olympic games are athletic contests. They
are modeled after those played by Greek athletes so long ago.
The first known Olympic Games took place in 776 B.C. Early Olympic Games were held in
honor of the Gods and Goddesses. They were held every four years at the temple of Zeus in
Olympia. All wars in Greece had to stop when it was time for the games. The athletes came
from Athens and Sparta and all the other city – states.
The earliest Olympic Games were just foot races. Later the Greeks added events such as
boxing, wrestling, jumping, discus throwing, and chariot racing. Today as in ancient Greece it
was a great honor to win an Olympic event. Instead of the gold, silver and bronze medals which
athletes receive today, In ancient Greece the winners were crowned with a circle of laurel
leaves. The athletes brought glory to themselves and to their city – states. ,