Download The City States

The City States
700 BC – 335 BC
Greek Polis (City-State) – geographic & political center
Separated by mountains and seas
Shared languages & customs
None more powerful than neighbor
Each has own government
Temple of local
god
Acropolis
(fortified hill)
Agora (marketplace)
Homes: Upper class, artisans, traders
Farming villages, fields, orchards
5,000 – 10,000 citizens
Citizens: Adult men born in Greece
(Not women, children, enslaved or foreign born)
Right to:
Vote
Own property
Speak for self in court
Take part in government
Defend Polis in time of war
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Sparta
(south central Greece – Peloponnesus)
800 BC  Aristocrats (nobles) take over gov’t from kings
2 kings rule jointly (have little power)
lead army
conduct religious ceremony
Aristocrats – citizens
Serve in military
Serve in Assembly
Pass laws
Decide questions of war / peace
Ephors – 5 elected managers
Charge of public affairs
Guide education
Council of Elders
Men over 50 years
Chosen for life
Suggested laws to Assembly
Served as high court
Helots
Worked the land
Enslaved people owned by city-state
½ crops to aristocrat who owned land
Peroicci
Merchants & artisans
Way of life
Newborns – healthy – live
- unhealthy – left on hillside
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Age 7 -
Age 20 Age 60 -
military camp
Trained under teenage leaders
Read, write, weapons
Little to eat / slept outside
No shoes / cloak only
Silent, eyes cast down
Inspection every 10 days
Marry
Live in military barracks
Retire
Women
More freedoms than other city-states
Mixed freely with men
Sports
Wrestling
Racing
War “Come home with your shield or on your shield!”
Change
Spartans believed: Change is bad
Other City-States
Sparta
Using coins
Using iron rods
Literature & Art
Uneducated
Business & Trade
Farmers & Slave labor
High Culture
Poor
Only Goal: Be the strongest military power
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Athens
A polis on Aegean Sea (very different from Sparta)
750 BC  Oligarchy set up (ruled by only a few people)
Did not work
Fighting between upper & lower classes
Draco (a noble)
Tries to make changes
Too harsh – fails
594 BC  Solon (rich merchant)
Writes a constitution (a set of principles & rules
For governing)
- Sets limits on amount of land a person
can own
- Gives landowners right to vote
- Gives Assembly power to make laws
- Frees indebted slaves
- Offers citizenship to artisans who are not
born Athenian
- Orders fathers to teach sons a trade
More participation in government
Trade increase
Rich – gone too far
Poor – gone not far enough
560 BC  Peisistratus takes over
Supported by lower classes
Divided large estates among farmers
No longer had to be a citizen to own land
Encouraged arts
Sons take over after death
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Spartans take over
508 BC  Cleisthenes (a noble) takes over
Democratic Constitution (lasted over 300 years)
Favors equality of all people
Freedom of speech
Assembly open to all males over 20
-Elected 10 generals yearly
Run army / navy
Chief magistrates (judges)
One named Commander-In-Chief
Council of 500
Chosen by lot yearly
No more than 2 terms
No election: unfair advantages
Everyone smart enough to hold office
Exceptions only in war: need good general
Education
No public schools
Boys – tutor, private schools
Age 7 – writing, mathematics, music
Practice sports
Memorized Homer & other poets
Age 18 – Males become citizens
Took oath at Temple of Zeus
Make Athens a better place
Be honorable in battle
Follow the constitution
Respect their religion
Persian Wars
545 BC  Persians conquer Ionia (Greek city-states in Asia
Minor)
525 BC  Ionia revolts
Ask Greeks on mainland to help
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Persians put down revolt
Darius (Persian King) wants to punish mainland Greeks
490 BC  Darius sends 600 ships and army to Greece
Landed at Marathon (Battle of Marathon)
Persians decide attack Athens directly
Greeks storm Persians as they board ships
Persian soldiers are defeated
Runner to Athens yelling NIKE (goddess of victory)
Pheidippides ran 26 miles
Silver mines discovered – wealth spent on Triremes
3 level warships
largest fleet
480 BC  Xerxes (son of Darius) conquers northern Greece
City-States get together
Sparta – leads army
Athens – leads navy
Battle of Thermopylae
Army and navy held off Persians
Athenians fled to Salamis
Traitor leads Persians around pass
Persians find Athens empty & set it on fire
Persians tricked into strait btwn Athens & Salamis
Xerxes returns to Asia
479 BC  Battle of Plataea
Last of Persian troops defeated
Delian League
Defensive league (protective group)
Headquarters on island of Delos
Sparta did not join
Common navy
Ships built & manned by Athenians
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Pericles “First citizen of Athens”
Rebuilt temples & palaces on Acropolis
Built Parthenon (temple of goddess Athena)
Built the Long Walls (connected Athens to port)
Philosophy & literature hit new heights
Decline of Athens
Other Greek city-states resented power of Athens
Peloponnesian War
City-states led by Sparta against Athens
Lasted almost 30 years
404 BC  Athens surrendered to Sparta
1/3 Athenians killed by war or plague
Athenian men became mercenaries
- hired men (Persian military)
Oligarchy of 30 men set up in Athens
Revolt – set up democracy
Decline of the City-States
Lost sense of community
War cost a lot of money
Interests changed to making money
Bitterness btwn Upper and Lower classes
Spartans were harsh rulers
371 BC  Thebes & other city-states overthrew Sparta
Thebes worse than Sparta – weekend city-states
No longer strong enough to fight off invaders
388 BC  Philip II of Macedonia conquered Greece
Key terms:
Polis – city-state
Acropolis – a fortified hill
Agora – open area used as a marketplace
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Citizens of Greek City-States
- Rights:
o Vote
o Hold public office
o Speak in court
- Responsibilities:
o Take part in government
o Defend the city-state
What was the agora in the Greek city-state?
The agora was an open marketplace at the foot of the acropolis.
1. City-state = polis
2. Fortified hill = acropolis
3. Open-air marketplace = agora
4. Had the strongest army in Greece = Sparta
5. Had the strongest navy in Greece = Athens
6. A polis was made up of villages, fields, and orchards.
7. At the top of the acropolis was a temple.
8. The average Greek city-state contained between 5,00010,000 citizens.
9. Only citizens of the city-state could vote and own property.
10.
The agora was located at the foot of the acropolis.
Aristocrats: nobles
Helots: enslaved people owned y the city-states
Perioeci: merchants and artisans who lived in villages
Spartan Society
- Citizens: made up of aristocrats
- Non-citizens: made up of helots and
perioeci
Which groups of people worked in Sparta?
The helots worked in Sparta.
Why did Spartans not pick up new ideas?
Spartans did not pick up new ideas because they believed change
and new ideas would threaten their way of life.
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Nobles = aristocrats
Enslaved people = helots
Merchants and artisans = perioeci
Spartan managers = ephors
Served as Sparta’s high court = Council of Elders
Sparta was located in a region of Greece known as the
Peloponnesus.
7. Spartan citizens were always aristocrats.
8. Unhealthy Spartan newborns were left to die.
9. The life of a Spartan male centered on physical fitness and
military training.
10.
Spartan women enjoyed wrestling and racing.
Oligarchy – a form of government in which a few people have the
ruli8ng power
Constitution – a set of principles and rules for governing
Democratic – a government favoring the equality of all people
Triremes – warships with 3 levels of rowers on each side
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