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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. ,