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Classical Greece
Chapter 5
Pages 109-135
Cultures of the Mountains & the Sea
Sec 1
Pages 111-14
Geography Shapes Greek Life
• Access to the sea links Greek Trade, travel, & economics to other
countries
– Became excellent sailors, trade was important due to lack of natural resources
• Mountains make overland trade & political unity difficult
• Lack of abundant resources spurs Greek expansion
• A mild Climate encourages an outdoor civic & cultural life
– Temperature range from 48 degrees to 80 degress
– Men spent most of their time in outdoor public events
Geographical Effects of Greek Civilization
Mycenaean Civilizations Develops
• Mycenaean develop a strong culture led by wealthy warrior-kings
– Were among the Indo-Europeans who invaded many areas around 2000 B.C.
– Lived in the main city in palace-forts
• They invade Crete & preserve & spread aspects of Minoan culture
– Adopted their form of writhing & some religious beliefs
– Also became interested in trade
• Mycenaean kings defeat Troy & become the dominant power in the Aegean region
– 10 year war & where the famous Trojan Horse is part of.
Greek Culture Declines Under the Dorians
• After their civilization Collapses the Mycenaean are replaced by the Dorians
– Sea raiders destroyed their palaces
• The Dorians have no written language & are less advanced than the Mycenaean
– Greece went into decline and no written records exist from this period
– Through spoken word, Greeks of this time continued to relate epic stories of their
heroes
• Homer Composes the heroic epics of Greek literature, The Lliad & The Odyssey
– Both tell of the war w/Troy & an otherworldly journey home by a Greek hero
Warring City-States
Section 2
Pages 115-119
Rule & Order in Greek City-States
• The Basic political unit in Greece is the polis, or city-state
– Name given to Greek cities and villages surrounding them
• Each city-state is ruled by a monarchy, aristocracy, or oligarchy
– Monarchy – ruled by king; Aristocracy- ruled by nobles; Oligarchy – ruled by
wealthy merchants; Some city-states has a representative type of government
• A new type of army emerges, made of citizen-soldiers
– Weapons made up of iron instead of bronze (too costly)
– Soldiers from all walks of life ready to defend their homes
Sparta Builds a Military State
• Sparta develops into a military state, extending its power by conquering the
Messenians
– Made the Messenians helots, peasants forced to stay on the land and work the land
• An Assembly, council of Elders & ephors govern Sparta. Only ruling families &
working class people are citizens
– Two groups govern Sparta free adult males, elected officials who voted on major
issues & council of Elders
– Ephors carried out the law
• Education for Spartan boys centers on Military training. Both boys and girls learn to
put service to the state first
– Boys joined army @ 7 & went through a long period of training as soldiers
– Women stayed home a work the farms & other businesses
Athens Builds a Limited Democracy
• Athens avoids civil war by developing democratic rule, but only free men can be
citizens
– Wealthy nobles & the poor people were at odd
• Solon reforms the legal system, the assembly, & trade buy neglects the peasants
– Removed laws that the poor didn’t like
– Made it possible for any citizen to join the assembly
– Outlawed debt slavery
• Cleisthenes weakens the nobility & gives citizens more power
– Made Athens a full democracy
– Allowed citizens to admit laws for debate and passage
Differences in living in Athens and Sparta
The Persian Wars
• In the first Persian War, the highly trained Greek armies defeat
King Darius’s forces
• Ten years later the city-states are badly divided, Athens & Sparta
rally to defeat Xerxes’ army & navy
• Victory over the Persians gives the Greeks renewed selfconfidence & set the stage for Athens’ golden age
Democracy and Greece’s Golden Age
Section 3
Pages120-125
Pericles’ Three Goals for Athens
• Pericles helps create direct democracy, strengthens navy,
beautifies Athens
– Wanted to make Athens more democratic
– Wanted to make Athens stronger
– Wanted to make Athens beautiful
Greek Styles in Art
• Greek artists & sculptors create an idealized human form
– Phidias created statue that contained gold & ivory and it stood 38 feet tall
• Order, balance, & proportion are standards of classical art
– Faces showed neither laughter nor anger just serenity
– Attempted to capture the grace and motion of the human body
Greek Drama
• The Greeks create dramatic tragedies & comedies
– Tragedies covered pain and suffering
– Comedies discussed & accepted criticism of their ideas, behavior, customs, politics
• The tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocies and Euripides focus on serious
themes and a tragically flawed hero
• Comedies, such as those by Aristophanes, often used slapstick humor and
satire to criticize Athenian life
Spartans and Athenians Go to War
• Sparta & Athens begin the Peloponnesian War
– Cause was Athenian expansion onto the island of Corcyra, which threatened the
Spartan ally of Corinth
– Sparta had superior land forces
– Athens had a superior navy
• After 10 years of war Athens surrenders to Sparta
• Athens loses its empire, power, & wealth; and confidence in democratic
rule declines
Philosophers Search for Truth
• Greek thinkers believe the universe & its laws can be studied &
understood
• Socrates question the traditional Greek values & is condemned to death
– Believe deeply in truth & justice
• In The Republic, Plato describes his ideal society – an oligarchy, not a
democracy
– Society would be divided into three groups-farmers, artisans, warrior, & the ruling
class.
– The person in the ruling class with the greatest insight & intellect would be a
philosopher-king
Philosophers Search for Truth
• Aristotle's rules of logic are the forerunners o the modern
scientific method
– Method for arguing coding to rules of logic
• The ideas of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle shape European
thought for centuries to come
Alexander- Empire Builder
Section 4
Pages 128-131
Philip Builds Macedonia’s Power
• Philip II of Macedonia builds a powerful professional army and defeats
his enemies
– Invaded Greece and ended their independence
• He conquers a divided Greece but is murdered before he could invade
Persia
– Killed at his daughter wedding by a former guards man.
• Alexander continues his father’s empire building
– At age 20 proclaimed himself king
Alexander Defeats Persia
• Alexander first establishes control over the Greek cities & then invades
Persia
– Destroyed Thebes, when they rebelled; sold survivors into slavery frightened by his
cruelty, Greek cities give up the idea of rebellion
• Alexander military genius is evident in his defeat of the Persian forces
– Smashed Persian defenses at Granicus; surprised them in Anatolia
• Although Darius III tries to negotiate, Alexander conquers Egypt & Persia
– Crowned pharaoh & named a city after himself
Alexander’s Other Conquests
• Alexander extends his empire into Central Asia, hoping to reach the continent’s end
• His conquests end at the Indus Valley, and he dies pre paring to wage another
campaign
– Not yet 33 years old
• Antigonus, Ptolemy, & Seleucus divided Alexander’s empire & rule as absolute
momarchs
– Antigonus became leader over Macedonia & Greece
– Ptolemy took over Egypt and become pharaoh
– Seleucus ruled that used to be the Persian empire
• Alexander conquests result in the blending of Greek & Persian cultures
The Spread of Hellenistic Culture
Section 5
Pages 132-135
Hellenistic Culture in Alexandria
• Greek, Egyptian, Persian, & Indian Influences blend to create Hellenistic culture
• Alexandria’s strategic site helps it become the greatest city in the Hellenistic world
– Located on the western edge of the Nile ships docked in its harbor
• The city thrives as a major center of scholarship with its museums & library
– Museum had rooms with works of art, a zoo, & a garden
– Library held half a million scrolls of papyrus that contained everything known to
the Hellenistic world
– Became first true research library
Science & Technology
• Hellenistic astronomers develop theories that shape European thought for
centuries
– Aristarchus stated the the sun was actually larger than the earth & the earth &
planets revolved around the sun
• Euclid develops the science of geometry, and Archimedes’ laws serve as
the basis for many mechanical inventions
– Archimedes’s calculated an approximate value of pi, also invented the compound
pulley to left heavy objects, device to raise water from the ground, and a catapult
Philosophy and Art
• Stoics seek to control desire and live in harmony with natural & divine
laws
– Thought that power and wealth could hurt a person’s moral well-being
• Epicureans seek to harmonize body & mind
– People could rely only on what they learned from their five senses
– Stated that everyone lives and mortal life and they should try to do thing in
moderate ways, rather than to the extreme
• Hellenistic sculptors reject classical ideals & create more realistic works
Hellenistic Achievements
The Legacy of Greece