Download Sparta Society - Spring Branch ISD

What was one similarity and one difference between the
Assyrian and the Persian Empires?
• On Island of Crete.
• Grew rich through trade
with Greece, Phoenicia,
Egypt, and Asia Minor.
• Knossos was capital.
• Civilization declined (ca.
1500 B.C.E.) due to
eruption on the Island of
Santorini.
• Dominated by
the city of
Mycenae.
• Collapse led to
“dark ages” in
Greece (ca.
1100 B.C.E.).
• Disconnected terrain prevented
uniting under one government.
• Had independent local
governments, called poleis
(polis).
• Politics resembled Indian politics
in the tendency of regional
fragmentation.
• Sparta was a military
society.
• At seven, boys were
raised to be soldiers.
• They suffered physical
abuse, lack of food, and
ridiculed for weakness.
• Served in the military or
reserves until age 60.
• Patriarchal
society.
• Of all the ancient
societies, Spartan
women enjoy the
fewest restrictions
• Education
• Own property
• Not secluded in
their homes.
• Married men
close to their
age.
(Created by female Whapster 2015-2016)
• Society relied on helots, slaves, to do agricultural labor.
• They were captives of raids on their neighbors.
• Government was an
oligarchy, shared power
between two kings.
• Belief that top-down
government power was
necessary for a stable and
prosperous society.
• Social life was tightly
controlled.
• Solon, created a “direct
democracy”, government
where all citizens could
vote directly on laws in a
large assembly (594
B.C.E.).
• Unique feature of
classical Greek political
systems was the idea that
free male citizens could
run the affairs of state.
• Social
Stratification
• Like First
Civilizations,
societies of the
classical era
were patriarchal
in organization.
•
Believed to be
intellectually inferior,
women had few rights:
–
Excluded from
government service
and from voting.
–
Could not own
property.
–
No education.
–
Had to be
accompanied by a
man outside the
home.
•
The growth of
democracy in classical
Athens was
accompanied by the
simultaneous growth of
slavery on a massive
scale.
• Rocky and mountainous land discouraged easy farming.
• Depend heavily on seagoing
trade.
• Hellenistic society
registered special
advances in science.
• Archimedes
discovered the
usefulness of the
lever, and developed
the Water Screw, to
lift water from a lower
elevation to a higher
elevation.
• Hero; father of mechanical engineering.
Discovered the principle of steam power.
The Greeks
knew about
steam power,
but never used
it for practical
purposes.
Why?
• Homer wrote two epic
poems, the Iliad and the
Odyssey (ninth century
B.C.E.).
• Philosophical ideas
flourished in Athens.
• Greek philosophy is
noted for its emphasis
on logic and
questioning of received
wisdom, without relying
on the gods?
• A distinctive
feature of Greek
thinking was a
confidence in
human reason.
• Socrates, Plato,
and Aristotle all
emphasized Greek
rationalism.
• Socrates emphasized asking
questions to systematically
clarify ideas and understand
them became known as the
“Socratic Method.”
• Describing himself as “that
gadfly which god has given the
state and all day long and in all
places . . . arousing and
persuading and reproaching
you”
• Like Jesus, he was sentenced
to death by states which felt
threatened by their teachings.
• Plato opened school called
the “Academy.”
• Students taught to question
the nature of ideas (good,
evil, justice, and beauty).
• Wrote “dialogues,” teachings
presented as discussions
between Socrates and his
pupils.
• “The Republic,” describes the
ideal society ruled by
philosopher kings who ruled
by the concept of justice and
ethical values.
• Greeks sought to define a
single source of order and
meaning in the universe.
• Aristotle, best known for
his ideas about ethics.
• Avoid extremes in
behavior.
• This moderation was
called the “Golden Mean.”
• Emphasized “empiricism,”
gaining knowledge through
observation and evidence of
the senses, not intuition or
religious beliefs.
• “Aristotelian Logic,” the
science of the formal
principles of reasoning.
• Greek scholarship has
influenced the world because
its texts were not lost but
translated into Arabic and
stimulated Muslim
intellectuals.
• Art was three-dimensional, admiration of the
human body. Naked art = Greek art!
Egyptian Art
Greek Art
• Polytheistic
• Religion based on a set of
myths.
• These stories, not teachings of
ethics, expressed their ideas
about right and wrong
behavior.
• Contact with Persians and
Egyptians made religion
more syncretic (combining
ideas from different sources).
• Theater was a religious function, and civic duty.
• Plays on myths.
• Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, wrote tragedies (dramas
about death, war, and mans relationship with the gods).
• “Prometheus Bound” story of Prometheus stealing fire from
Zeus, and suffers eternal punishment.
• “The Trojan Women” story of Athenians slaughtered of war
captives.
• Religion was connected to architecture.
• The “Parthenon” (in Athens), commissioned by Pericles,
symbolize the “Golden Age” of Greece.
• Columns on all sides and topped by a slanted roof.
• A panel on top had friezes illustrating Greek myths.
• Athletic competitions were held every four years to honor
the gods (Olympic games).
• Wars between cities were halted during this time, known as
the peace of Zeus.
• The games created a feeling of “Greekness”.
• Established colonies (8th century B.C.E.).
• Colonies were independent, but shared culture with its home city-state.
• Colonization led to the spread of Hellenic (Greek) culture throughout the
Mediterranean.
That concludes
The Greeks.
Any questions before the quiz on the next
slide?