Download chapter 4 - Novel Stars

World History
Chapter 4
Ancient Greece
Knossos was the palace-city on the island of Crete, where the ruler of the
Minoan civilization was based. The walls of the palace were covered with frescoes, or wall
paintings. The scenes on the walls depict many facets of the Minoan lifestyle. We can
determine how they dressed, what some of their hobbies and interests were, and what some
of their ideas about religion were.
The Achaeans eventually took over Crete. They conquered Troy sometime around
1250 B.C. Homer wrote an epic poem, the Iliad, which describes the Trojan War. He
also wrote the Odyssey, which is another epic poem that describes the adventures of an
Achaean warrior after the fall of Troy. People realized these were factual books after
Heinrich Schliemann, an archaeologist, discovered the city of Troy.
After the Dorians invaded Greece, the Achaean civilization began to decay. This
time is referred to as the Dark Age. The Dorians made slaves of the people of Sparta, one
of the major city-states, after they took over. Sparta was a landlocked city in Laconia.
It became a city-state of warriors and helots, or slaves.
City-states developed from some of the Greek villages. A city-state was a fortified
hilltop and the fields around it. The most important place in a Greek city-state, or polis,
was the acropolis, a hilltop fortress. Many important meetings took place here.
Until around 800 B.C., each polis was ruled by a king. At that time, aristocracies
replaced monarchies. When a king heads the government it is called a monarchy. An
aristocracy is a government headed by a privileged minority or upper class.
Tyrannies, or governments headed by an individual who seizes power by force,
eventually began to threaten aristocracies. The phalanx, a massive formation of men
fighting in harmony in heavy armor, changed the balance of power to the general
1
World History
population. Therefore, tyrants needed the backing of the general population in order to
keep their power.
After the rule of tyrants, democracy developed. The United States government is a
democracy, or government by the citizens. The citizens of a state have political power in
a democracy.
Athens was a city-state in Attica. It was named after the Goddess Athena. She
fought over Athens with a god named Poseidon, and was victorious.
Athenians were not at all pleased with their government. In 621 B.C., Draco was
chosen to compose a written code of law. Most people were still not satisfied, so
changes continued to be made. Athenians slowly made changes that would foster a
democracy. Solon was one of the reform leaders whose reforms included the freeing of
citizens who had been forced into slavery.
Cleisthenes also made some positive changes towards democracy. He made the
Assembly the law-making body of Athens. All citizens, not just those who owned land,
could participate in the Assembly. Previously, citizens without land were powerless.
Cleisthenes also came up with the concept of ostracism. Ostracism was the
temporary exile of a citizen from a city. If enough people wanted someone out of a city,
because they thought he was a danger, they could choose to banish him for a number of
years. Can you imagine being forced to move out of your city because enough people voted
you out?
In 490 B.C., the Athenians won a victory over the Persians, even though they were
greatly outnumbered. The Persians came across the Aegean Sea, which washes the
eastern shore of Greece. A runner was sent to Athens to deliver news of the victory.
The distance he ran was 26 miles. His run started on a plain named Marathon. A 26-mile
foot race became known as a marathon.
Themistocles, the ruler of Athens persuaded the Assembly of Athens to build a
strong navy. He knew that the Persians would seek retribution, and he wanted to be
prepared. In 480 B.C., under the command of Xerxes, the Persians did just that.
They came ashore and headed south. When they reached a narrow mountain pass in
Thermopylae, they were stopped by a small army of men from Sparta. This holdup
allowed the Athenians time to find a safe haven. From this haven, they used trickery to
defeat the Persian forces.
In 477 B.C., the island of Delos was home to a meeting of the Greek cities. They
held the meeting to form an alliance that would protect them from any future attacks by
the Persians. They called it the Delian League. The Athenians were the main guiding
influence of the alliance.
2
World History
After the Persian Wars, Athens flourished. The “Golden Age of Athens” is used to
refer to this time. Pericles was a major force in the political arena. He did much to
restore the city of Athens.
The Greeks enjoyed different types of plays, such as the tragedy and the comedy.
A tragedy focused on the suffering of the major character and a comedy focused on
ridiculing things. The father of Greek tragedy was Aeschylus, whose plays include those
in the oresteia.
They also enjoyed epic and lyric poetry. An epic is a narrative poem that tells the
story of a legendary hero, and a lyric is a poem in which the poet expresses his or her
emotions or thoughts. Sappho was a Greek woman who was accepted and well liked for her
lyric poetry. She became famous for her poetry, in a time when women’s endeavors often
went unnoticed and unappreciated.
The Greeks were exceptional artists. Pericles paid special attention to the temples
of Athens when he had the city rebuilt. Polyclitus was a sculptor who carved graceful
statues of the human form.
The Greeks gave the name philosopher to thinkers who sought wisdom and
believed in an individual’s ability to reason. One such philosopher, Pythagoras, was a
musician, mathematician and astronomer who discovered the relationship between the
sides of a right triangle.
Hippocrates was another philosopher. His oath requiring ethical behavior for
doctors is still taken today. It is called the Hippocratic oath.
Socrates invented a system of teaching by asking questions and searching for
answers. This question-and-answer technique, that is designed to make people examine
their beliefs, is called the Socratic method.
Plato was a student of Socrates. It was through Plato’s work, that Socrates made
a huge impact on thought. He set up a school called the Academy, where he taught science,
mathematics and philosophy. He also wrote the Republic, in which he informs us that the
satisfaction of the common good is his idea of the ideal state.
One of Plato’s students was Aristotle. Aristotle believed that people should aim
for moderation in all things. When Plato died, Aristotle left the Academy. He went on to
teach Alexander the Great. Later on, Aristotle started a school of his own with money
given to him by Alexander.
Alexander dominated an enormous empire and helped to spread Greek civilization.
The easternmost extent of his empire reached India. He married a Persian princess
and worshipped Greek and Persian gods. Many Greek merchants, artisans and artists
followed his army into eastern lands. Because he blended the cultures, Greek culture
was more easily accepted in the East. Hellenistic civilization, a blend of Greek and
3
World History
eastern influences, eventually developed throughout the empire. Click here to learn more
about Alexander the Great.
During this time, huge strides were made in science and mathematics. A
library containing 500,000 scrolls was established, an astronomer determined the
diameter of the earth and another one concluded that the earth revolved around the
sun. Greek physicians learned how to use anesthetics in surgery.
One of the most significant discoveries was the understanding of how blood is
pumped throughout the body. This was important because it paved the way for many
other advances in medicine.
Euclid made advancements in the field of geometry. Today’s high school students
study geometry that is based on his ideas. He also wrote The Elements. Archimedes
invented a number of useful tools, such as the catapult and double pulley.
Hellenistic philosophers thought that the individual was important. Epicurus taught
that people should live calm, simple, well-regulated lives.
Zeno, a stoic philosopher, taught that happiness was the greatest good. The
stoics taught self-discipline. A stoic philosopher believed that to achieve happiness
one must accept whatever life brought.
Stoicism would probably be very popular today. Many of the behaviors that
Stoics believed people should strive for are qualities that are admired by many people
today. Self-discipline, courage and moral conduct are three examples.
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~atlas/europe/interactive/map20.html
click on map and select key first, then click again and select start. requires shockwave.
Shows Greek and Phoenician colonization from the 10th to 6th century BCE.
4