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The Origins & Environment
 Little know about civilizations of Greece from 1200-
800 BCE
 Left no written records
 Only fragments of pottery
 800 BCE new civilization began
 Lived in same environment
 Same crops, livestock, resources to build homes and
make tools, used harbors to trade
 Some differences:
 Iron was common in 800BCE
 Used marble for sculptures
 Written language similar to modern day Greek
 Political organization linked to conditions of
environment
 Very mountainous, few major rivers, travel was
difficult , communities were isolated
 Communities developed into Polis – “city-state”
 Each city-state had it’s own
 Government
 Laws
 Money
 Farm products were important part of economy
 Traded with and went to war against other city-states
 Corinth, Eretria, Thebes, Athens and Sparta had
existed for centuries
 As they grew the environment couldn’t support
populations
 Small pastures did not produce enough food
 Some families had to leave their city-state (700500BCE)
 Established new home  colony (colonies)
 In Europe & Asia
 Took flame and bottle of earth from old home
 Mainland city-states traded oil, pottery and wine for
timber and grain
 ~500BCE two powerful city-states
 Athens
 Sparta
 Divided into +100 city states
 Most land east of Aegean Sea ruled by one King
 Cyrus of Persia
 Also controlled city-states in Asia Minor
 499BCE Miletus Rebelled (Asia minor city-state)
 Persians crushed rebels even with help from Athens
and Eretria
 Persians burned down Miletus and Eretria
 Attempted attack on Athens
 Athenians won even though outnumbered
 Greek city-states must UNITE against Persia
 30 city-states united (formed an alliance) against Persia
 Athens and Sparta were part of this alliance
 Others surrendered to Persia
 War ended in 479BCE  victory for Greek allies
 Next half century lived in peace under Athenian
leadership
 Delian League
 Delos –the small Greek island where league’s members
first met
 Sparta was not part of league
 Peloponnesian League
 Sparta was part of this league
 with other city-states of Peloponnesian Peninsula
 431BCE – war between Athens and Sparta
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Quarrel between Corinth and Athens
War lasted for years
Neither side able to defeat the other
Athens had a strong navy
 404BCE – Sparta and Persia made a deal
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Exchanged gold for Sparta surrendered to Persia
Gold was used to strengthen the navy
This allowed Sparta to defeat Athenian navy
Sparta blocked Athens from getting supplies
Athens surrendered
Sparta defeated the enemy that was previously the ally.
 People’s life was influenced by
 Philosophers
 Poets
 Playwrights
 Scientists
 Politics
 Believed Athen’s was world’s first example of
democracy
 Greek word meaning “ruled by the people”
 Strong feeling of community in Athens
 Responsibility was on leaders and people
 Male citizens played a role in city’s government
 Every month any man could speak in front of the
Council
 The Council was 500 members who served a term of
one year (chosen by a lottery)
 Any man could be put into the lottery
 Every committee was made up of ~ 10 men
 Tax collecting, street cleaning, policing
 One committee elected
 Military affairs – needed trusted experienced soldiers
 Most famous soldier was Pericles
 Not all people had equal rights
 Women, slaves and foreigners could not speak before Council, be a
member or vote
 Women
 Age 15 were considered ready for marriage – arranged by their father
 Spent days managing household
 Some skilled potters and weavers
 Slaves
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Prisoners of war, children of slaves, poor outsiders
Some extremely difficult lives working in silver mines
Most were household servants (cooked, cleaned, watched children
Worked at trades, some ran own shops
Some paid small wages – only some bought freedom
40% of Athenians were slaves
The role of slaves and women allowed men to live lives discussing
philosophy and politics
 Agora – marketplace
 Open space serving as an assembly area
 Commercial, Civic, Social, Religious activities
 Piraeus