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GREECE
Geography
• Greece occupies a small area in the
Mediterranean and Aegean Seas
• Made up of the mainland and numerous islands
• Two geographic features played a significant role
in developing Greece:
– Mountains
• Isolated Greeks from one another –
different communities develop
• However, rivalries between communities led
to warfare that devastated Greek society
– The Sea
• Became seafarers who established colonies
that spread Greek civilizations
• Peninsula = land that is surrounded on three
sides by water
• Archipelago = a chain of islands
Early Greek Civilizations
• The Minoan civilization (3000 – 1450 BC)
– Established on the island of Crete
– Named after King Minos, legendary king of Crete (the
Minotaur story)
– Used bronze to make weapons
– Large palace at Knossos – had basic plumbing
• was destroyed several times and rebuilt
– Sudden and catastrophic collapse around 1450 BC
• Volcanic eruption, tidal wave, mostly invaded
– Historians can’t read the writings of the Minoans
• The Mycenaean State
– First Greek state, flourished between 1600-1100 BC
• Mycenaeans are considered to be the first Greeks
because they spoke a form of the Greek language
– The Mycenaeans were Indo-Europeans who entered
Greece, gained control of the Greek mainland, and
developed a civilization
– Mycenaean society was dominated by warfare and
powerful kings
• Small kingdoms often fought each other, prided
themselves on being a warrior people
–Conquered Crete, supposedly destroyed Troy
– Had tombs built into hillsides where members of the
royal families were buried
– Collapsed due to famines, invasion by outsiders, war
between the Mycenaean cities, and the end of trade
• By 1100s BC the Mycenaean cities were mostly in
ruins
• Dark Age
– Decline in population and food production
• People fled cities, farmers struggled to grow
enough food to eat
– Large numbers of Greeks left the mainland for
various islands
• Many went to Ionia – the western shores of Turkey
– Lost the use of writing for several centuries, Greek
civilization almost disappeared
– 8th century BC the Greeks adopt the alphabet from
the Phoenicians
• Reduced to 24 letters which made reading and
writing easier
– Homer
• One of the greatest poets of all times, wrote epic
poems based on the Trojan War that became the
basis for Greek education system
–Epic poem = a long poem that tells the deeds of
a great hero
• Iliad – tale of the Greek hero Achilles
• Odyssey – long journey home of Greek hero
Odysseus
Greek City-States
• The central focus of Greek life and society was the polis
– Polis = Greek city-state
– Acropolis = fortified gathering place at the top of a
hill which was sometimes the site of temples and
public buildings
– Agora = an open area that served as a gathering place
and as a market
• Polis = community of people with a common identity
and common goals
– Each polis developed independently of its neighbors,
own form of gov’t , laws, and customs
• Greeks were fiercely loyal to their polis and
regarded themselves not as Greeks, but as
members of a particular city-state
– Make-up of a polis:
• Citizens who had political rights = adult males
• Citizens who had no political rights = women and
children
• Non-citizens = slaves and foreigners
– Some cities develop democracy = gov’t by the people
or rule by the many
– Other city-states develop an oligarchy = rule by the
few
– New military system develops
• Based on hoplites = heavily armed foot soldiers
• Carried a round shield, short sword, and a
thrusting spear
• Formed a phalanx for protection
–Phalanx = a wall of shields created by foot
soldiers marching close together in
rectangular formation
– Greek colonies established, one of the most
famous being Byzantium
• Spread of cultural and political ideas
– Two prominent city-states emerge
Athens
• Found on the peninsula of Attica
• First ruled by kings, then aristocrats
– However poor people are getting poorer and
they demand reform
• Cleisthenes creates the foundation of Athenian
democracy (world’s first democracy)
• Standards for voting = must be a free male over the age
of 20 who has completed military training and owns
land
– Accounts for 10% of the population
• Duties of people allowed to vote:
– Vote in all elections and serve in office if elected
– Serve on juries and in the military during war
• Athenian democracy consisted of three main bodies
– Council of Five Hundred who proposed laws that
would be voted on by the Assembly and supervised
both foreign affairs and the treasury
– Athenian Assembly – composed of all male
citizens who were eligible to take part in the gov’t
• This assembly voted on and passed the laws
• Direct democracy = people participate directly
in gov’t decision making and vote directly on
an issue
– Complex series of courts
• The archon served as the chief of state and was
head of both the Assembly and Council
• Economy was largely based on farming and trade
• Family – primary function was to produce new
citizens
• Women could not own property and always had
a male guardian
– Chief obligation was to have children
– Were expected to stay at home and out of sight,
unless attending religious festivals or funerals
• Demographics of Athens around 430 BC
– 150,000 citizens, 43,000 of whom were males with
political power
– 35,000 foreigners – had protection of laws and some
responsibilities
– 100,000 slaves
Sparta
• Located on the Peloponnesus, the large peninsula of
southern Greece
• Like most city-states, Sparta needed more land, so
they conquered neighboring peoples instead of
starting new colonies
– The Spartans turned these conquered peoples
into helots = state slaves
– The helots were given to Spartan citizens to work
on farms
– Spartans were now free to spend all their time
training for war
• Spartans decide to create a military state to keep
control over the helots
– Helots outnumbered Spartan citizens by 7 to 1
• Life in Sparta was rigidly organized
– Babies were examined at birth and if they were
found to be weak, they were put to death
– Men
• Taught physical toughness by parents until age
seven
• They then entered a school system designed to
teach them combat
–At the end of their training, boys were sent into
the wilderness and expected to survive
• At age 20 the boys became hoplites in the Spartan
army
• Allowed to marry, but had to live in barracks until
age 30
–Could now live their own lives, but expected to
fight with the army when needed
• Allowed to vote in the assembly at age 30, retired
from the army at age 60
– Women
• Expected to exercise and raise healthy children
• Had greater freedom and power in the household
due to separation from their husbands
• Could own property
• Government structure
– Was an oligarchy headed by two kings who led the
army on its campaigns
– Ephors – a group of five men elected each year
• Responsible for the conduct of all citizens and
education
– Council of Elders – composed of the two kings and 28
citizens over the age of 60
• Decided the issues that would be presented to the
assembly
– Assembly of male citizens – voted on the issues
• Foreigners were discouraged from visiting and Spartans
were not allowed to travel abroad
– Kept out dangerous ideas and discouraged new
thoughts
ATHENS
Where Located
Gov’t Type
Military State?
Accepts Foreigners?
Who Can Vote?
Voting Age?
Life of Women
SPARTA
The Persian Wars
• (490 BC - 479 BC)
• Greeks in Ionia rebel against Persian rule, ask for help
from other Greeks
– Persian emperor Darius decides to get revenge on
the Greeks
• First Persian Invasion – 490 BC
– Battle at Marathon – Athenians attack the Persians
while they are unloading and the Persians retreat
– An Athenian messenger runs 26 miles from
Marathon to Athens to announce the victory
• He dies after delivering the message
• Darius is furious over the humiliating defeat and starts
to plan another invasion
– However he dies and his son Xerxes vows to get
revenge for his father
• Second Persian Invasion – 480 BC
– Battle at Thermopylae
• Greeks are afraid they won’t have enough time to
prepare
• A group of 300 Spartans decide to hold off the
entire Persian army at the mountain pass of
Thermopylae
• Are successful for several days until a local shows
the Persians an alternate path through the
mountain and they kill all the Spartans
– The Persians advance and burn Athens
• Need the Persian navy to bring additional supplies
– Battle of Salamis
• An Athenian navy commander lures the Persian
navy into the narrow Strait of Salamis
• Persian ships were very large and could not
maneuver well
• Xerxes watches from a throne on the shore as his
navy is destroyed
– The Persian army is now stranded in Greece with few
supplies
– In 479 BC a large Greek army led by the might of
Sparta crushes the Persians, ending the war
The Golden Age of Athens
• Athens and Sparta became the two most powerful
city-states as leaders in the Persian Wars
– Sparta not popular, Athens becomes the leading
city-state
• Dozens of Greek city-states banded together for
defense
– This alliance was to be a league of equals
– Athens, as the largest and richest, ended up
controlling the entire alliance
– Became known as the Delian League
• As the League’s leader, Athens controlled its ships and
money
– Would not allow unhappy members to quit
– Would attack rebelling members with the League
fleet
– The League more or less turned into an Athenian
Empire
• Used League funds to rebuild Athens
– Built the Parthenon = a grand temple dedicated to
the goddess Athena
• Pericles
– Great champion of democracy and most influential
politician in Athens
– Commissioned the Parthenon
– Introduced payment for those who served in public
offices and juries
– Believed in the superiority of Athens
• Trade brought much wealth to Athens
– Athens at the time was the heart of Greek culture
• Greatest rival was Sparta
– Had its own allied city-states = Peloponnesian League
– Athens fears the military might of Sparta and allies
– Sparta fears that the Athenian navy would stop
Sparta from trading
– This mutual fear led to Sparta and Athens declaring
war in 431 BC
The Peloponnesian War
• War between Athens and Sparta
– Sparta and allies dominate the land
– Athens and allies dominate the sea
• Spartans surround Athens hoping for an open battle
– Athens avoids any battles on land
– Knowing they can’t compete in open battle, they
hide behind their city walls, relying on supplies from
their navy and colonies
• In 430 BC a terrible plague breaks out in Athens,
killing a third of the people, including Pericles
• 421 truce, war breaks out six years later when Athens
attacks one of Sparta’s allies
• This time Sparta destroys the Athenian navy and Athens
surrenders
– The walls of Athens are torn down and the Empire
destroyed
• Costs of the war
– Weakened major Greek city-states
• Athens nearly destroyed, Sparta exhausted as well
– Sparta tries to act as Greece’s dominant power
• Lost too many resources, defeated by Thebes who
also can’t maintain control
– Struggle for power in Greece led to a long cycle of
warfare that left all of Greece vulnerable
– Ignored the growing power of Macedonia to the
north
– Loss of freedom
Greek Culture
• Philosophy = the search for wisdom and knowledge
– Greek word meaning “the love of wisdom”
• Socrates
– First of the great Athenian philosophers
– Everything known about Socrates comes from the
writings of his students
– Interested in broad concepts of human life
– Best way to learn is to ask questions
• Use question-and-answer format to acquire
knowledge
• Known as the Socratic method
– Socrates was charged with disrespect for religion and
corrupting the city’s children
• Thought he caused children to question the
actions of the gods
• Believed the displeasure of the gods caused
Athens to lose the war
– Sentenced to death by drinking a cup of hemlock, a
poison
• Plato
– Student of Socrates
– His most famous work was the Republic
• Gov’t should be led by the people most qualified
to make good decisions - philosophers
– Plato founded the Academy, a school where
respected philosophers could teach their students
and hold debates
– Questioned reality and believed in ideal Forms
• Every material object in the world was only the
reflection of a perfect ideal
• Aristotle
– Student of Plato
– Emphasis on reason and logic to study the natural
world
• Reason = clear and ordered thinking
• Logic = the process of making inferences
– Aristotle believed in analyzing through observation
and investigation
• People should use reason to learn about the world
by making careful observations
• Influenced the development of science in Europe
• History
– A systematic analysis of past events, created by the
Greeks
– The Greeks were one of the first people to write
about and analyze the past
– Herodotus – First historian, wrote about the Persian
Wars
– Thucydides – considered to be the greatest historian
of the ancient world
• Included many primary speeches and looked at
his sources critically
• Greek Drama
– Used for entertainment, two distinct forms of drama
• Tragedies – usually focused on hardships faced by
Greek heroes
• Comedies – satires, written to expose the flaws of
society
– Several well-known Greek playwrights
– Sophocles – concentrated on the suffering people
brought upon themselves
• Many of his characters had fatal flaws
• Famous play = Oedipus Rex, the story of a king
who accidentally kills his father and marries his
mother
– Aeschylus – wrote plays based on ancient Greek
myths
• Famous play = Oresteia, the tragedies faced by the
leader of the Greek army on his way home from
the Trojan War
– Euripides – wrote about characters whose tragedy
was brought about by irrational behavior
Alexander the Great
• Macedonia was a powerful kingdom to the north of the
Greek city-states
• Philip II reorganized the Macedonian army and adopted
the phalanx system
– Conquered all of the major Greek city-states except
Sparta and became the new leader of Greece in 338
BC, he was assassinated in 336 BC
– After his death, his son Alexander came to the throne
(356-323 BC)
• Alexander was a great military leader and
strategist
– Reestablished control in Greece due to a revolt
• Thebes resisted and Alexander burned down the
city and sold all the people into slavery
• Decided to fulfill his father’s dream of conquering the
Persian Empire
– Destroyed the Persian army and emperor Darius III
fled – he was later murdered by one of his own
officers
• After this victory, Alexander led his army deeper into
Asia
– Went and conquered parts of India
– When his army refused to go any further, Alexander
agreed to go home
• On his way back home, Alexander fell ill in the city of
Babylon and died a few days later
– He left no heir, so his generals began to fight for
control
– In the end the empire was divided among the three
most powerful generals
• Macedonia and Greece, Persian Empire, and Egypt
• Legacy of Alexander
– Created new cities, most of them named Alexandria
• Built Alexandria as the Greek capital of Egypt –
important city which had a famous library
– Alexander envisioned a world in which many cultures
would live together
– Made a conscious effort to bring people and ideas
from different places together
• Alexander married two Persian princesses
• Encouraged Greeks to move to the Alexandria
cities
– Created a new type of culture
• Blended elements of Greek civilization with ideas
from Persia, Egypt, and Central Asia
• Created the Hellenistic Era
– Hellenistic means “to imitate the Greeks”
– Expansion of Greek language and ideas to other parts
of the world
– Massive spread of Greek colonists to Asia
• Hellenistic Achievements - philosophers
– Interest in Greek philosophy
– Cynicism school of philosophy = cynics rejected ideas
of pleasure and wealth
• Instead people should live according to nature
– Epicureans = people should seek out pleasure and
avoid pain
– Stoicism – great emphasis on reason, self-discipline,
and emotional control
• Stoics believed people should identify their proper
role in society and strive to fulfill that role
• Hellenistic Achievements – Science and Math
– Euclid = formulated many of the ideas about
geometry that are still used and learned today
– Eratosthenes = determined the world was round and
calculated its circumference
– Archimedes of Syracuse = one of the greatest
inventors of the ancient world
• Established the value of pi, developed a compound
pulley that could lift heavy loads, and used levers
and pulleys to lift a ship out of the water
• Alexander’s empire fell apart soon after his death, and
the different Hellenistic kingdoms were shortly
conquered by the Romans