Download Message of Ancient Days

Chapter 11 Ancient Greeks; Message of Ancient Days
Lesson I Land Around the Sea:
-Odysseus wandered throughout he area now called Aegean Sea
-Many people settled on Pelopomeseus peninsula
-Mountains, bays, inlets divided Greece in to many, small isolated regions
-No point in mainland is more than 40 miles from these
-Most people were farmers (mild winters, hot summers)
-Grapes, olives, lemons, oranges, but less than ¼ was level ground, so they
traded grains with Sicily and areas in Black Sea
-Traded with Egyptians, Phoenicians and Persians
Early Civilizations
-2000-1400 BC on Crete with King Minoas (Minoah age)
-Had writing, artwork, pottery, metal bowls, jewelry, weavings
-Great sailors/traders
-Great builders (palaces in Knossos) {Nahsushs}
-Had underground plumbing, piped in water
Mycenaean Civilization
-Settled on Greek mainland in 1900 BC
-Largest city was Mycenae (My see Nee), had writing, great trade ships
-1450, they conquered Minoans, lasted from 1400-1100 BC
-In 1150 BC, they fell to invaders, the Dorians from northern Greece took
over
-1100-800 BC, Dark Age-isolated villages, no trade or language
-Oral tradition kept the history alive, writing again by 800 BC and used
Phoenician based alphabet
-During 700’s BC, Homer wrote Odyssey
Lesson II Rise of City-States
-Isolated cities began to grow, became city-states
-Some began to fight among themselves
-By 600-500 BC, city-states flourished and this became the Age of
Exploration
Athens
-700-400 BC, Athens developed democracy (see trials)
-Grew out of monarchy as city-states kings worked with nobles called
oligarchy
-Tyrants-leader who gained power by force and ruled single handedly
-Promised to reform land laws and help poor
-People were willing to rally behind them, but some were very greedy
-510 BC Athens drive out Hippias for first democracy
-Council of 500 met every 9 days to decide laws
-Laws were handled more fairly, but rich were angry for the poor had a say
-Only men over 18 could be citizens
-About 35,000were metics-could not vote or hold office, they were traders,
shopkeepers, craftsmen, money-loaners
-145,000 wives and children
-Rest were slaves
Economy of Athens
-Farming fell into 2 categories
1) large estates with slaves
2) tenant farmers paid rent with crops from leased lots
-Until 500 BC, Athens bartered-traded for goods
-570 BC; gold/solver coins invented
-Athens became a wealthy state, but rich were expected to donate large
amounts of money to government
-Thus, families did not stay wealthy beyond 2-3 generations
Lesson III Ancient Greek Culture
-776 BC-beginning of Olympics
Family of Gods
-Zeus was on golden throne on Mt. Olympus
-Controlled both nature and human world
-Zeus set standards of justice and controlled weather
-Poseidon-god of sea
Hera-goddess of marriage
-Aries-god of war
-Dionysis was god of wine
-Apollo is god of light
-Greeks made animal sacrifices and asked specific gods for specific things
-Built sacred temples called sanctuaries to worship
-Built in locations surrounded by beauty
-Olympia was for Zeus, perfect for athletics
-Delphi was for Apollo, built in a mountain range with oracle of Apollo
-Since it was sacred no one would loot it, so people left their money three
-Delios-Apollo’s birthplace
-Eleusis-Demeter, goddess of grain, pilgrimages were made during planting,
harvest seasons
-Had festivals to worship their gods at Athens for Dionysis
-Featured plays such as tragedies-stories in which the hero collapses due to
a flaw in his character (Antigone)
Comedy-funny plays
-Even criminals were released to see these plays
Lesson IV A Tale of Two City-States
-Athens sent Philippiles to get help from Sparta against Persians
-Sparta said they’d help in 9 days after a religious celebration
-Athens did not wait and crushed Persians
-He ran back to Sparta (26 miles), announced victory the victory and died
-Sparta had been conquered by Dorians in 1100BC
-It was 25,000 citizens, 250,000 slaves
-Had a strong army in case of slave uprising
-Had 2 kings, then 30 man Senate (had to be 60+ to be a senator)
-Could not proposes laws, simply vote yes or no to an idea proposed by
senator of ephors-5 government leaders elected by assembly
-In reality only a few families had powers
-Spartans lived simple lives-most were soldiers
-Had a plot of land with helots-state slaves assigned to a plot of land
-Slaves get meals, owner turned over a % of his crops to government, and in
return he was fed by government
Education in Sparta
-Weak babies were left to die
-Boys left at age 7 to go to barracks to learn away from home
-Learned to read, write, physical training, slept on the floor, endured
beatings
-By 18, fully devoted to military, by 30, he was finished with training
-Girls also had to be physical and could read/write
Athens
-Boys were educated at 7, but did not leave home
-Learned writing, reading, math, poetry, music and dance
-Joined army for 2 years of military service at age 18
-Women were almost completely ignored
-Girls leaned poetry, stories, crafts from their mothers
-Different values/different cultures
Allies Against Persia
-In 499 BC, Athens tried to help city-states
-By 494, city-states had lost and Persia wanted to crush Athens
-490 BC, Persian army was crushed by Athens
-In 480 BC Xerxes (Zurk sez) attacked
-1st big battle was Thermopylae
-7,000 Greeks vs. 20,000 Persians
-A traitor allowed the Persians to attack from behind and they crushed the
Greeks, burning Athens to the ground
-A month later, they fought at Salamis, but Greeks sank ½ of Persia fleet
-479 BC, Persians tried again and were crushed at Plataea
-Led by Spartans, together they and Athens destroyed the Persians
-Example of their g
reat unified strength