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Warring City-States
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But First- A Review
Why didn’t the Greeks unite under a single
government?
Mountains separated them
Greece also consisted of many islandsHow many?
2000
Did the Trojan War really exist?
Yes
Why don’t we know much about the
period of decline in Greece?
No written record
Who wrote the epics, The Iliad and the
Odyssey?
Homer
Getting Started
Greek civilization experienced a
period of decline during the Dorian
period
After many centuries, Dorians and
Mycenaeans identified less with
culture of their ancestors and more
with local city-state
By 750 B.C. Greeks saw the rise of
powerful city-states
Rule and Order in Greek CityStates
Polis (city-state) was the main
political unit in Ancient Greece
Made up of a city and surrounding
countryside (between 50-500 sq
miles)
10,000 or less residents and men
would gather at the agora (public
center) or an acropolis (fortified
hilltop) to conduct business
Greek Political Structures
City states adopted different political
structures.
Monarchy- kings or monarchs rule
the government
Aristocracy- government ruled by
few land owning nobles
Oligarchy- government ruled by a
few powerful people
Direct Democracy- rule by the
people
Athens
Athens Builds a Limited Democracy
Athens north of Sparta
Outlook and values very different than
Sparta
Athens
After a power struggle with rich and
poor, Athens defeated the idea of a
civil war by creating a democracy- a
rule by the citizens
Only free adult males counted as
citizens
Women focused on cooking, cleaning
and mothering
Reforms
Common people opposed aristocrats
running the government and stopped
an attempt of nobles establishing a
tyranny
Demanded a written code of laws
Draco, a Greek lawmaker, drafted the
first code that was mainly about
contracts and property ownership
546 B.C. Solon, a well liked statesman,
gets full power to reform the law
Solon abolishes debt slavery and allows all
citizens to participate and debate in
policies
508 B.C. Cleisthenes is the leader of
Athens and creates a limited democracy
where citizens can create laws
Who were citizens?
Athenian Education
Schooling only for sons of wealthy
families.
Girls learn from mothers and other female
members of the household
Sparta
Located in
southern part of
Greece known as
the Peloponnesus
Nearly cut off from
rest of Greece by
Gulf of Corinth
Built a military
state
Sparta Builds a Military State
Sparta conquered neighbor Messenia
in 725 B.C. and took over land
Messenians became helots- slightly
higher than slaves to Spartans
600 B.C. helots revolted and
outnumbered the Spartans
Spartans barely beat the helots and
scared them into creating a strong
government
Spartan Government
Two kings led Sparta
– 1 king handled military
– 1 king took care of domestic matters
A council of Elders
– Made up of 30 male citizens over the age of 60
– Proposed laws and served as a criminal court
An assembly
– Included all male citizens over 30
– 5 Elected members carried out the laws
– Controlled the education of Spartans
Spartan Daily Life
Life centered
around military
training
At age 7, boys left
home and moved
into military
barracks
At age 20, man was
able to wed, but
still lived in
barracks for
another 10 years,
remained on active
duty another 20
years and could
retire when he was
60
Spartan Women
Spartan girls put Spartan service above
family and love
didn’t receive military training but would
wrestle, run an play sports
they ran the household and raised children
as men were away serving in the military
Didn’t have the right to vote, but had
more rights than other city-state women
Their best value was seen as producing
Spartan soldiers
An ambassador from the city-state of
Corinth once compared Athens and
Sparta “ Sparta has the strongest
army in Greece, but they are too
cautious and lack imagination and
curiosity. Athens was eager to learn
new ideas because they were
educated to think and act as free
people”
The Persian Wars
New Kind of Army
Weapons made of bronze were
expensive, and only the wealthy
could afford to arm themselves
Iron was more common, cheaper and
harder than bronze- soon ordinary
citizens could afford to arm and
defend themselves
Phalanx
Citizens were expected to defend the
polis
Foot soldiers called hoplites (named
after the body shield, the hoplon)
stood side by side, holding a spear in
one hand, and a shield in another
Fearsome formation called phalanx,
was most powerful fighting force in
ancient world
Up to this point!
Danger of helot revolt= Sparta
becoming a military state
Danger of civil war= Athens creates
a democracy
Greatest danger of all- invasion of
Persian armies
Persian wars- wars between Greece
and Persian empire
Persian Wars
Began in Ionia, on
coast of Anatolia
Greeks long been
settled there, but
Persians conquered
the area
Ionian Greeks
revolted, Athens
sends ships and
soldiers to aid
them
Remember him?
Persian King Darius
defeated the rebels
and vowed to
destroy Athens in
revenge
In 490 B.C.,
Persian fleet
carried 25,000
men across the
Aegean Sea and
landed on plain NE
of Athens called
Marathon
Darius greeted by 10,000 Athenians
arranged in phalanxes
Greeks charge at Persians who wore
light armor and lacked training in
this type of combat- no match for
Greek phalanx
After several hours, Persians retreat,
casualties 7,000 Persians, 200
Athenians
The Marathon
Athenians win
battle, but city of
Athens stood
defenseless
Send young man
named
Pheidippides to run
to Athens and give
them the message
of the victory, and
not give up the city
without a fight
Sprinted from
Marathon to
Athens, 25 miles
And now you know…
Pheidippides
delivered his
message, “Nike”,
collapsed, and then
died
His heroic run
inspired officials at
the 1896 Olympic
Games in Athens to
add a 26-mile
marathon to their
competition
Nike means
victory
More about the Persian War
Greek army quickly set off to Athens
to prepare and wait for another
attack from the Persians
Persians sailed away in retreat
10 years later, Persian empire who
vowed to destroy Athens, invades
again.
Darius now dead, son Xerxes
assembles enormous invasion
Greeks really divided- some say let
them burn Athens and get it over
with, some fought with Athens, some
city-states even fought on the
Persian side
Xerxes army met no resistance as it
marched down the eastern Greek
coast
But when Xerxes came to a narrow
mountain pass at Thermopylae, 7000
Greeks including 300 Spartans blocked his
way
Fought for 3 days, then Xerxes found a secret
path around cliffs
Spartans stayed to fight fearing defeat, while
other Greeks retreated
All 300 Spartans were killed
d
Meanwhile,
Athenians decide
best way to defend
city is to fight at sea
Position Greek fleet
near island Salamis
in a narrow channel
Xerxes send ships
to block both ends
of channel, but
ships to big and
couldn’t maneuver
well through
channel
Greek ships drove their rams through
the wooden hulls of the Persian fleet,
puncturing the warships
1/3 of Xerxes fleet sank
Spartans defeated the rest of Persian
Army at a third battle on the plain of
Plataea
Consequences of Persian Wars
Greek city-states feel a new sense of
confidence and freedom
Athens leads an alliance of 140 Greek
cities called the Delian League, ending the
threat of future attacks from Persia
Athens enters a “Golden Age”