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Ancient World History
Study Guide
Mr. Knutsen
The Meadows School
CHAPTER 4
The Greek Experience
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
After reading and analyzing this chapter, you should be able to describe the basic political forms of
Greek government, and discuss Greek intellectual achievements and their impact. You should also be
able to trace the spread of Hellenism and evaluate its importance to the Greeks and to the peoples of
Asia, Africa, and Europe. Finally, they should be able to reflect on the profound consequences of this
meeting of West and East.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I.
II.
Hellas: The Land and its Earliest Inhabitants (ca 1650–ca 1100 B.C.E.)
A. Minoans and Mycenaeans
1. The islands of the Aegean served to link the Greek peninsula and Asia Minor.
2. Geography acted as a divisive force in Greece, encouraging the development of small
states and making it very difficult to build empires.
3. By about 1650 B.C.E., Crete was the center of the prosperous Minoan culture.
4. The heart of Minoan culture was the palace and the palace at Cnossus was the most
important palace.
5. Minoan society was ruled by a king and his nobles.
6. The Minoans traded in Egypt, the Middle East, and throughout the Aegean Sea, trade
that brought them into contact with the Mycenaeans.
7. Mycenaean society was ruled by a king and a warrior aristocracy.
8. Mycenaean commerce quickly expanded, but prosperity did not bring peace.
9. Internal warfare led to the destruction of Mycenaean Greece.
10. The period that followed is sometimes called the “Dark Age” of Greece (ca 1100–800
B.C.E.).
11. This period saw the extensive movement of Greek peoples, resulting in the spread of
Greek culture throughout the eastern Mediterranean.
The Polis
A. Basic Features
1. By the end of the “Dark Age” the city-state was the common social entity.
2. The three most important city-states were Sparta, Athens, and Thebes.
3. The main focal points of the polis were the acropolis (a place for temples and public
monuments) and the agora (a public square or market place).
4. The unsettled area of the polis was usually its main source of wealth.
5. The small size of the polis meant that Greek society was very intimate.
6. The polis could be governed as a monarchy, an aristocracy, an oligarchy, a democracy,
or a tyranny.
7. Citizenship in the polis was very exclusive.
8. On occasion, Greeks from different city-states banded together to form leagues or
federations.
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Chapter 4: The Greek Experience
Ancient World History -- Knutsen
III. The Archaic Age (800–500 B.C.E.)
A. Overseas Expansion
1. Increase in population led many Greeks to look for land outside Greece.
2. Greeks sailed to Sicily, southern Italy, Sardinia, southern France, Spain, and the
Canary Islands.
3. This period of colonization spread Greek culture throughout the entire Mediterranean
and into western Africa.
B. The Growth of Sparta
1. Conquest made Sparta the leading power in Greece.
2. The Spartan state was reformed on a pattern called the Lycurgan regimen.
a) All male Spartan citizens were given equal rights.
b) Family life was sacrificed to the polis and military values were made the
foundation of Spartan society.
c) Both men and women were expected to share in these values.
d) The Lycurgan regimen helped promote dedication to the state and adherence to a
strict code of moral conduct.
C. The Evolution of Athens
1. Solon began the process that transformed Athens from an aristocracy into a democracy.
2. Cleisthenes brought the process to completion.
3. The deme was the basic unit of Athenian democracy.
4. Legislation was created and enacted by two bodies, the boule and the ecclesia.
5. Athenian democracy excluded more people than it included.
IV. The Classical Period (500–338 B.C.E.)
A. The Deadly Conflicts (499–404 B.C.E.)
1. Between 499 and 479 B.C.E., the Greeks successfully rebelled against the Persian
Empire.
2. In 478 B.C.E. the Athenians formed the Delian League.
3. Athenian imperialism threatened Sparta, leading to the Peloponnesian War.
4. The Peloponnesian War lasted a generation and ended with the defeat of the Athenians.
B. Athenian Arts in the Age of Pericles
1. Under Pericles the Athenians built the Acropolis, the pinnacle of Greek artistic
achievement.
2. Greek drama reached a highpoint with the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides,
and Aristophanes.
C. Daily Life in Periclean Athens
1. Athenians led a simple material life.
2. Slavery was commonplace in Greece.
3. Agriculture was the main support of most Athenians.
4. Much controversy exists over the social condition of Athenian women.
5. Homosexual activity was generally accepted in this period.
D. Greek Religion
1. The Greeks had no uniform system of beliefs.
2. In addition to the Olympian gods, each polis had its own local deities.
3. Mystery religions that, to a certain extent, foreshadowed early Christian practices also
existed.
4. A close bond existed between Greek religion and nature.
E. The Flowering of Philosophy
1. Greek philosophers dealt with questions about the origin of the universe and the nature
of man in rational, as opposed to mythological, terms.
2. The pre-Socratics taught that the universe was subject to natural laws.
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Ancient World History -- Knutsen
3.
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The work of Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Democritus culminated in the
theory that the entire universe comprised four substances: fire, air, earth, and water.
4. Socrates approached philosophical problems through the Socratic method, a running
dialogue with his students that was intended to reduce problems to their essential
elements.
5. Socrates’ student Plato took up where Socrates left off.
a) Plato was a philosopher, a political scientist, and a utopian.
b) Plato taught that only ideas, or “forms,” were truly real and that the highest
“form” was the idea of good.
6. Plato’s student Aristotle believed that everything in human experience could be
understood through reason.
a) Aristotle was a philosopher and a scientist.
b) Aristotle’s essential philosophy is laid out in the Physics and Metaphysics.
F. From Polis to Monarchy (404–323 B.C.E.)
1. When the Peloponnesian War ended, Sparta attempted to create a Greek empire. The
Spartan effort failed, leaving the Greek states in disarray.
2. Philip II, king of Macedonia, took advantage of this situation.
3. Philip conquered Greece and united the Greek states with Macedonia.
4. He formed the League of Corinth with the stated purpose of freeing the Greeks of Asia
from Persian control.
5. Philip’s son, Alexander the Great, carried out his father’s plan.
6. Alexander won battle after battle, taking his army as far as India.
7. His early death in 323 B.C.E. created political chaos.
8. His victories made possible the dissemination of Hellenism throughout the East.
The Spread of Hellenism
A. Cities and Kingdoms
1. Politically, the Hellenistic period is marked by the resurgence of monarchy.
2. Hellenistic kings established cities in order to attract the Greeks they needed to run
their kingdoms.
a) These cities were not granted sovereignty and were less cohesive than the Greek
polis.
b) They were, nonetheless, a crucial force in the spread of Hellenization.
B. The Greeks and the Opening of the East
1. The Hellenistic kings succeeded in creating economic and social opportunities.
2. New opportunities were available for both men and women.
3. Despite their economic success, the Hellenistic monarchies failed to inspire deep
loyalty in their subjects.
C. Greeks and the Opening of the East
1. Greeks filled important political, military, and diplomatic positions in the Hellenistic
monarchies.
2. Greeks dominated many professions.
3. The Hellenistic period saw the emergence of new opportunities for women.
4. The Hellenistic monarchies were hampered by their artificial origins.
5. The problem of finding Greeks to fill governmental positions led to the stagnation of
the Hellenistic monarchies.
D. Greeks and Easterners
1. The Hellenistic kingdoms were never fully unified in language, customs, and thought.
2. The Ptolemies in Egypt made no effort to spread Greek culture and built only one city.
3. From the second century B.C.E. on, Greeks and Egyptians began to intermarry.
4. The Seleucid kings established cities throughout western Asia Minor.
5. The presence of many Greeks in Seleucid cities helped spread Greek culture.
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Chapter 4: The Greek Experience
Ancient World History -- Knutsen
6. The Greek language became the common language of the East.
7. Most Easterners held onto their own cultures.
8. Greek and Eastern cultures never really fused.
E. Developments in the Western Mediterranean
1. The history of Hellenism in the western Mediterranean is complicated and imperfectly
understood.
2. The region was host to numerous peoples and cultures.
3. The Italic people arrived in Italy around 1000 B.C.E.
VI. The Economic Scope of the Hellenistic World
A. Commerce
1. The period did not see dramatic change in the way people lived and worked.
2. Nonetheless, East and West were drawn together by extensive trade networks.
3. The Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties traded with India, Africa, and sub-Saharan
Africa.
4. Caravans linked China and the Mediterranean.
5. The most important form of trade was the exchange of essential commodities.
6. Slaves were a major component of Hellenistic trade.
B. Industry and Agriculture
1. Manual labor continued to be the basis of economic activity.
2. Mines were worked by slaves of both sexes and all ages.
3. Iron was perhaps the most important metal in the Hellenistic world.
4. Agriculture was the foundation of the Hellenistic economy.
VII. Religion in the Hellenistic World
A. Shared Traditions
1. Greeks and Easterners shared religious traditions and did not attempt to secure the
supremacy of one particular tradition.
2. Greek cults spread throughout the East.
3. Greeks adopted Eastern “mystery religions.”
4. The Eastern cults of Serapis and Isis became popular.
VIII. Hellenistic Thought
A. Philosophy
1. Epicureanism encouraged focus on material things and political passivity.
2. Stoicism demanded that individuals accept their lot in life and resign themselves to
their duty.
B. Hellenistic Science
1. Aristarchus of Samos propounded the heliocentric theory.
2. Euclid created a system of geometry still in use today.
3. Archimedes was the greatest thinker of the period.
4. Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth with amazing accuracy.
5. Medicine was one of the few areas in which Greek science was applied to practical
problems.
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