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CHAPTER 5
Classical Greece
Section 1: Cultures of the
Mountains and the Sea
How did geography in!uence the Greeks?
Rocky land with high mountains and deep valleys.
Moving over the land was di"cult
Because of the structure of the land Greeks were not easily united
Good farmland covered only about 1/5 of Greece#
Greeks became good sailors
the need for resources and easy access to the sea resulted in the Greeks becoming good
sailors
the mild climate allowed for the people of Greece to spend much time outside.
Mycenaean Civilization
Develops
Who were the Mycenaeans?
A large group of people moved from Europe, India
and Southwest Asia around 2000 BC
They developed a strong culture. They borrowed
many of their ideas from Crete
Fought a long war with the people of Troy called the
Trojan War
Greek Culture Declines Under the Dorians
What was Greece like under the Dorian?
Mycenaeans fell about 1200 BC and the Dorians occupied the land.
For the next 400 years Greece culture declined, there are very few written records of this time
Without written word the spoken word became very important
How did Homer keep Greek culture alive under the Dorians?
A great story teller named Homer spoke great epic poems about heroes and their deeds.
Iliad centers on the heroes of the Trojan War
Rich myths or stories explaining the actions of the gods were also told during this time
Section 2: Warring CityStates
Rule and Order in Greek City States
How were city states governed?
The center of Greek life was the polis $ or city
state
The city state had di%erent kinds of governments.
Some had monarchy $ ruled by a king or queen,
aristocracy $ ruled by a small group of noble
families or an oligarchy $ government ruled by a
few powerful people
Athens Builds a Limited
Democracy
How was Athens governed?
democracy $ government of the people
Solon came to power in 594 BC, he gave citizens a
greater voice.
Only free adult men were considered citizens, which
made it a limited democracy instead of a full
democracy
Sparta Builds a Military
State
How was Sparta governed?
A Council of Elders and elected o"cials governed
Sparta
The Military and being a great soldier was very
important to Sparta
The Persian Wars
Weapons and &ghting style of the Greeks
Over the years the Greeks developed the ability to make iron weapons.
Each city state had its own army. Soldiers stood side by side. They held a spear in one hand and a
shield in the other. Together they formed a phalanx
In 490 BC Persians landed 25,000 soldiers on the coast of Greece. At the Battle of Marathon, the Greeks won
a tremendous victory that saved Athens
10 years later, the Persians returned. The Greeks lost a battle on land despite the heroic e%orts of a small band
of Spartans.
The Persians burned Athens
However the ships of Athens won a great sea battle and followed up with a great victory on land.
Section 3: Democracy and
Greece’s Golden Age
Pericles' Plan for Athens
Pericles led Athens during its golden age.
He set three goals
1. Make Athens much more democratic (helped
bring about a direct democracy ! one ruled
directly by the citizens
2. Make Athens stronger (created a very strong
navy
3. Make Athens beautiful
Drama and History
Athens became home to a group of very skilled
playwrights who wrote either tragedies ! plays about
pain and su%ering of human life or comedies ! plays
that made audiences laugh about important issues and
ideas
Athenians and Spartans Go
to War
The Peloponnesian War
began in 431 BC
The con!ict ended badly for Athens
A horrible plague killed a great many people in
Athens
Several battles were fought and they signed a truce
and Athens gave up and lost its empire in 404 BC
Philosophers Search for
Truth
Philosophers $ thinkers who tried to understand
human life
Socrates $ one of the great thinkers. He believed
deeply in truth and justice. Some thought his teaching
were dangerous to young people. He was brought to
trial and put to death
Plato ! Socrates pupil, became a great thinker himself
and wrote The Republic
Aristotle ! Plato's student who developed a method
for testing and organizing ideas
Section 4: Alexander’s
Empire
Philip Builds Macedonian Power
Philip II became king of Macedonia $ kingdom
located just north of Greece
He was a strong leader and trained his troops to be
tough &ghters.
Macedonia's attacked Greece and won
Philip planned to invade Persia but was killed
His son Alexander became king and became know as
Alexander the Great
Alexander Defeats Persia
In 334 BC Alexander invaded Persia.
Darius III raised a huge army to face him, Alexander
used a surprise attack that forced Darius III to retreat.
Alexander conquered Egypt and he was crowned
pharaoh and he named the city after himself,
Alexandria.
He &nished Persia o% and the empire was his
Alexander’s Other
Conquest
Alexander pushed east taking his army as far as India
He decided to return home and he was making plans on
how to govern his empire when he became ill and died
at the age of 33.
Three of his generals divided his empire
One ruled Macedonia and Greece
One ruled Egypt
One ruled the lands of the old Persian Empire
Section 5: The Spread of
Hellenistic Culture
Hellenistic Culture in Alexandria
Hellenistic ! blended culture of the Greeks,
Egyptian, Persian and Indian in!uences
The center of the new culture was Alexandria in
Egypt. It was a large city with a great ship harbor
and the &rst true research library.
Science and Technology
Scholars used observatory to look at the stars and the
planets. One of these astronomers developed the idea
that the sun was actually larger than the Earch.
Euclid ! wrote a book with the basic ideas of geometry
Archimedes ! invented many clever machines, one
was the pulley another was called Archimedes screw
which was used to bring water from lower level to a
higher one
Philosophy and Art
Two new schools of philosophy developed
Stoics $ argued that people should live a good life to
keep themselves in harmony with natural laws.
Desire, power and wealth led people down the wrong
path
Epicureans $ said that people could rely only on what
they learned from their &ve senses. They urged
everyone to live a moral life.
One of the greatest works of Art the Colossus of
Rhodes was created during this time period.