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Chapter 4 Section 1 reg
Impact of Geography
Most of Greece is mountains & islands, the mountains isolated most Greeks from one another
allowing them to develop individually
Minoan Civilization
Was established in Crete around 2700-1450bc, their palace was set-up in Knossos & they relied
on trade on the sea to survive, they had storerooms for oil/ wine/ grain which were items that
were paid in taxes, they either disappeared due to a tidal wave or invasion from the Mycenaeans
First Greek State: Mycenae
Flourished around 1600-1100bc & was made up of Monarchies, the palace was built on a hill &
was fortified by a wall, the common people lived scattered around the palace walls, the royal
families were buried in tombs that were built into the hill sides, their pottery was found all over
the Mediterranean, the most famous military adventure of these people has been recorded in the
poetry of Homer this tells the story of how Agamemnon took control of Troy, they fell due to
either internal strife/ earthquake/ or invasion
Greek Dark Age (black hole in history)
After the Mycenaean collapse Greece entered a difficult period of time when the population
began to decline due to lack of food production 1100-750bc, the invention & use of iron in
Greece helped make weapons & farming tools more affordable in this time of need, they adopted
the Phoenician alphabet in the 8th century which made reading & writing easier to learn
Homer
Illiad story of Troy & Odyssey is the story of Odysseus after the fall of Troy, they used these
works as a history of Greece in education
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The Polis
Polis was the Greek word for city-state, at the middle of the gathering place was a hill that had a
fortified area on top of it, most city-states had small populations, only free-men could be citizens,
they battled in a phalanx
Greek Colonies
These colonies were independent from the polis that founded them, they set-up colonies to help
with trade and to find farmland, people were gaining money from these colonies & wanted
political power but were unable to get it because the ruling aristocrats would not allow it
Tyranny in the City-States
In the 7th & 6th century bc tyrants emerged by seizing power from the aristocrats with force,
Tyrants made many improvements to the city’s building structure, Tyranny fell out of favor
because it was contrary to Greek ideals and they changed their governments to either democracy
or oligarchy
Sparta
They conquered lands close to them instead of making colonies, they conquered people like
Messenians & Laconians and they became helots/slaves, to keep control they made a military
state, Spartan men went to military school as children and got out at 20 when they could marry,
they stayed in the barracks until they were 30 and served until they were 60, Spartan women
were expected to stay fit so they could produce healthy children, they were an oligarchy headed
by two kings, 5 ephors controlled education, the council of elders made all the other decisions
and consisted of the 2 kings and 28 men over 60, to make their country secure they turned their
back on the rest of Greece, They only believed in war and did not allow people to learn anything
else like philosophy/ literature/ art/ etc, They were not allowed to travel outside of the country
nor were people allowed in the country
Athens
It was an Oligarchy, there was an assembly of citizens but they had little power, They fell into
an economic crisis that left the peasants as slaves because they could not pay taxes, This lead the
country to fall into Tyranny under the control of Solon who removed debt, Pisistratus took
control and gave the land back to the poor people, Cleisthenes created a council of 500 that was
to look over foreign affairs/ treasury/ laws, this created the foundation for Athenian democracy
Chapter 4 section 3
Challenge of Persia
As Greeks spread throughout the Mediterranean they came into contact with the Persian Empire,
Athens defeated the Persians in the battle at Marathon, Xerxes vowed revenge and came with
180,000 troops/ thousands of warships and supply vessels, The Greeks held this force at
Thermopylae, They eventually beat them at Plataea
Growth of the Athenian Empire
After defeating the Persians Athens took leadership of Greece creating the Delian league
alliance against Persia, The treasury of this league was initially in Delos and then it was moved
to Athens which helped them in forming their empire by giving them extra money
Age of Pericles
Under the rule of Pericles Athenian direct democracy became deeply integrated into society,
every male citizen participated in the governing assembly and voted on major issues, the
Assembly met every 10 days 43,000 people were eligible but the amount rarely reached 6,000,
ostracism if a person was named called out by 6,000 people or more they were kicked out of
the city for 10 years, Under Pericles Athens became ‘The Center of Greece’
The Great Peloponnesian War 431-405bc
Athens & Sparta grew to dislike each other and they gained allies, Athens stayed in their walls
because they knew they could not beat Sparta in a war, In the second year of the war a plague
broke out killing 1/3 of the people in Athens, Athens continued to fight the war for another 25
years, Sparta eventually won and Greece was never controlled by one group again
Life in Athens
Athens had the largest population in Greece, Most people owned at least one slave, slaves
worked in industry/ fields/ cooks/ maids/ public works
Economy
Based on farming & trade, had to import 50-80% of their food
Family & Women
Family was made of husband/ wife/children/ slaves, Women could only be seen at religious
festivals, Athenian women always had a male guardian father/ husband/ son/ male relative,
women were not given formal education, if a woman left the house she had to have a male
companion.
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Greek Religion
Temples dedicated to gods & goddesses which were the major buildings in Greek cities, Greek
religion did not have a body of doctrine (bible) nor did it focus on morality, they had festivals/
rituals/ Olympic games to honor the gods, Had oracles that revealed the will of the gods
Greek Drama
The basis for modern drama was created by the Greeks, Greek tragedies were written in trilogy
form and they dealt with universal themes like good vs evil/ rights of the individual/ divine
forces/ human nature, Greek comedy was developed to criticize politicians and intellectuals
Greek Philosophy
Early on philosophers were trying to explain the universe, Pythagoras taught that the essence of
the universe could be found in numbers and music
Sophists
Traveling teachers in Greece that rejected foolish ideas like Pythagoras, they taught that it was
beyond the reach of the human mind to understand the universe so they should spend more time
improving themselves, they did not believe in universal rights & wrongs because they felt what
is right for one person could be wrong to another, this group was considered dangerous
Socrates
Believed that the goal of education was to improve the individual so he accepted no money for
his teaching, his Socratic method is still used today-> teachers pose questions to students having
them find the answer on their own to learn, he was sentenced to death for getting young Athenian
boys to think for themselves
Plato (student of Socrates)
Considered by many people to be the greatest philosopher of Western Civilization, believed in a
higher world of eternal unchanging forms that make up reality & only a trained mind can see
these things, Plato wrote down his form of government in The Republic because he did not like
democracy, believed society should have 3 groups 1) Philosopher King 2) warriors 3) rest, also
believed men & women should be equal
Aristotle (student of Plato)
Did not accept Plato’s idea of ideal forms, believed in observing and examining things, he wrote
about ethics/ logic/ politics/ poetry/ astronomy/ geology/ biology/ physics, he also thought
government should rationally direct human affairs but he looked for government in existing
forms, he liked monarchy/ aristocracy/ constitutional government with constitutional being the
best
Writing of History
Modern history was created by the Greeks, two men are credited for starting history Herodotus
& Thucydides
Chapter 4 section 5
The threat of Macedonia
Greeks viewed Macedonians as barbarians, Phillip II built a powerful army turning Macedonia
into a chief power in this region, Athens grew weary of the Macedonians and decided to fight
them at the battle of Chaeronea but lost, after this Phillip conquered Greece but then he was
assassinated, Phillip II always admired Greece
Alexander the Great
He took control at 20 but was well prepared by his father, he first conquered Persia as that was
his dad’s dream, then he conquered Syria/ Palestine/ Egypt founding Alexandria as the new
capital of Egypt, he then headed to modern day Pakistan failing in India planning to go back
but dying before he got the chance to get there, He was a great leader & a little reckless trying
imitate Achilles, his expansion brought a lot of gold & silver to Greece & Macedonia stimulating
their economy, Due to Alexander’s conquest Greek culture spread throughout southwest Asia &
the new East but the Greeks also absorbed a little of Eastern culture
Hellenistic Kingdoms
Alexander created a new age the Hellenistic Era which means to imitate Greeks, after his death
his generals his generals fought against each other for power eventually breaking up his kingdom
& losing it to the Romans, Alexander wanted conquered groups to take part in the government
but his successors only allowed Greeks & Macedonians, Hellenistic rulers encouraged a massive
spread of Greek colonist as far as southwest Asia
Hellenistic Culture
This time period saw advancement in many different subjects throughout especially in
Alexandria, the library in Alexandria became the largest in Ancient times with more than
500,000 scrolls
Architecture & Sculpture
The founding of new cities & rebuilding of old ones presented many opportunities for Greek
architects & sculptors to produce Greek work, but sculptors began to change from idealism to
realism
Literature
Writing talent was held in high esteem during this time period, Athens remained the center of
Greek theatre where a new type of comedy emerged that avoided political commentary
Science
Astronomy & Mathematics progressed tremendously during this time, Aristarchus developed the
theory that the earth moved around the sun but most people did not accept this idea, Eratosthenes
determined the earth was round with a circumference of 24,675 off by 185, Euclid wrote a book
about geometry that is still used today, Archimedes the most famous scientist of the time
invented pi/ created a water pump to get water out of mines/ built numerous defensive weapons
Philosophy
Epicureanism & Stoicism strengthened Athens’s reputation as a philosophical center
Epicureanism
Founded by Epicurus in Athens, believed humans were free to follow self-interest & happiness
was the goal of life
Stoicism
Most popular philosophy of Hellenistic culture & was founded by Zeno, was concerned with
people finding happiness, believed you could only find happiness when you gain inner peace by
living in harmony with the will of god