Download The Age of Pericles

The Age of Pericles
The Athenian Empire

Main Idea: Under Pericles, Athens
becomes very powerful and more
democratic
 After the Persian War, Athens is the
“top dog” of Greece. With its
powerful navy, Athens could provide
protection to other smaller city-states
(for a price $$)
 Athens joined other city-states (except
Sparta) in the Delian League in order to
keep Greece safe from any further
Persian attack. (Sparta did not want any
help for the Athenians)
 Originally its headquarters were on
the island of Delos
 Eventually the purpose of the
Delian league changed into an
Athenian Empire
(Delian League)
Types of Democracies


Direct Democracy: all citizens
decide laws and policies at mass
meetings
 Worked in Athens due to it’s
smaller size
 Assembly = passed all laws,
elected officials and made
decisions on war and foreign
affairs
 Ten Generals = carried out the
assembly’s laws and policies
Voting clays
Representative Democracy:
citizens choose a smaller group to
make polices for them
 makes sense with a large
population
 what the U.S.A. has
U.S. Senate
Pericles

Athenian general who guided
Athens for more than 30 years

Helped Athens control the
Delian League = treated other
city-states like subjects,
demanded strict loyalty and
steady payments insisting they
use Athenian coins and unit of
measure.

Made Athens more
democratic = allowed citizens,
even the poor, to be a part of
the government’s inner circle
Pericles cont.



Began a major
construction program =
new statues, temples, etc.
were built to replace those
destroyed in war. Most wellknown building is the
Parthenon – took 15 years
and 20,000 tons of marble
Culture blossomed =
creativity and learning
(supported artist, architects,
writers and philosophers
 Philosopher – people
who study questions
about life and search for
the truth.
This age of great creativity
and learning =
Age of Pericles or the
Golden Age
Building the Parthenon
Daily Life in Athens

Main Idea: Athenian men and
women had very different roles
 Number of slaves in Athens
almost equaled the number of
citizens (100,000 slaves to
150,000 citizens)
 Trade drove the Athenian
economy (unlike Sparta where
the military drove the
economy)
 Athenians were farmers,
but many did not have
enough farmland to
support the family

Athenian MEN = worked in
the morning, exercised or went
to meeting in the afternoon,
and upper-class had all-male
parties (social parties symposiums) in the evening

Athenian WOMEN = lives
centered at the home and did all
household chores while taking
care of the children. Left home
only on rare occasions and even
then a male relative must
accompany them
Hestia - Every day, when the ancient
Greek women gathered in the central
courtyard of their homes, to do their sewing
and cooking, they knew that Hestia was
keeping watch over them.
The Peloponnesian War

Main Idea: Sparta and Athens went
to war for control of Greece
 City-states start to grow
suspicious of Athens becoming
rich (using money from the
Delian League to benefit
Athens) They also attempted
to force the other city-states to
adopt and use Athens money.
 Led to Sparta, city-states
joined forces AGAINST
Athens (the Peloponnesian
League)
 431-404 B.C. –
Peloponnesian War (called
this because Sparta is in the
area of Greece called
Peloponnesian peninsula).

Pericles’ Funeral Oration – speech to the Athenians during
the funeral to honor those lost during the war.
 Reminded Athenians of the power of the democracy, that they
belonged to a community and accepted certain duties and enjoyed
certain rights.
 His words gave the Athenians courage to keep fighting and his ideas
still hold true in democratic nations today.
Athens loses the Peloponnesian War!!
How did they lose?

Disease spreads through
Athens, killing 1/3 of the people
(including Pericles) = Athens was
overcrowded due to everyone
staying inside the city walls for
safety against Sparta’s fierce army

Sparta made a deal with
the Persian Empire = in
exchange for $$, they gave Persia
some Greek territory in Asia
Minor. With the $$, Sparta built a
navy.

404 B.C. – Sparta’s navy
destroyed Athenians fleet =
tore down Athens’ city walls and
broke up the Athenian empire.
War was over!!


Peloponnesian War hurts ALL city-states
 Many people die fighting, farms were destroyed, people lost jobs and it
impossible for the Greeks to work together again!
Greek city-states continue to fight among themselves
 Don’t notice a much bigger threat coming from the north in the Kingdom
of Macedonia, which will cost the Greeks their freedom.
CLICK HERE