Download Day 5 Notes Ancient Greece (Athenian Golden Age)

WORLD HISTORY notes
Day 8
Pericles
Peloponnesian War
Alexander the Great
AGE OF PERICLES
461 BC
Pericles took control of Athenian government
Goals of Pericles:
1) Expand Democracy
a. increased size of Assembly [Ecclesia
i. included all male citizens over 18 years old
ii. passed all laws
iii. made final decisions on war and foreign policy
iv. began paying officeholders
1. poor citizens could now afford to participate in government
2) Expand the Athenian Empire
a. established colonies
b. increased Athenian navy
3) Rebuild, Beautify, Protect Athens
a. Parthenon
b. Walls around Athens to port of Pireus
i. If war broke out, they could still get goods into Athens
Pericles used money from the Delian League for the benefit of Athens
PELOPONNESIAN WAR
Series of battles and wars
Reasons for war
1)threatened by growing power of Athens
2)increasingly suspicious of Athenian intentions
 walls, navy, alliances
3)tired of Athenian arrogance
Sparta created the “Peleponnesian League” to challenge the Delian League
459 BC
Megara-Corinth War
 led to war between Sparta and Athens
 both were allies of Sparta
 Athens took advantage of the war and established a strategic alliance with Megara
 this gave Athens a critical foothold on the Isthmus of Corinth
o Small strip of land that connects southern and northern Greece
446 BC
Thirty Years’ Peace signed between Sparta and Athens
431 BC
Thebes (Sparta’s ally) attacked Plataea (Athens’ ally)
 Pericles urges the Athenian Assembly to vote for war
o Assembly agrees
 War resumes between Sparta and Athens
Athenian Strategy
1) Use “hit and run” tactics
2) Hide behind its “protective walls”
430 BC
Plague hit Athens
 1/3 of people died - including Pericles
 weakens Athens
421 BC
Peace of Nicias – fifty year truce
416 BC
Alcibiades convinced the Athenians to attack Sparta and its allies on island of Sicily
 no real reason to help – Athenian “arrogance” and visions of glory
 Athenian Navy suffered big losses - FAILURE
Athens moving towards “Mob Rule”
412 BC
Sparta develops navy with help of Persians
405 BC
Battle of Aegospotami
 remainder of Athenian navy was destroyed
404 BC
Athens surrenders to Sparta
1) Athens destroyed
2) protective walls torn down
3) ”Pro-Spartan” Oligarchy set up in Athens -- “Thirty Tyrants”
4) no navy – 12 ships
5) END OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
Sparta began to abusing its power and soon other city-states began rebelling against Sparta
By 350 BC
Greece entered a state of “Anarchy”
“IN FIGHTING” WEAKENED GREECE – PREVENTED IT FROM BEING ABLE TO PROTECT ITSELF
PHILIP II and the RISE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Philip II
338 BC
Battle of Chaeronea
 Philip II of Macedon defeated Greeks and took control of Greece
 used disunity of Greek states to gain control
336 BC
Philip II was assassinated at the wedding of his daughter, Cleopatra by Pausanias (bodyguard)
 Alexander (son) took control
Alexander the Great
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tutored by Aristotle (always carried copy of “Iliad”)
great strategist, fight w/ soldiers, paid soldiers
Story of Bucephalus
 According to legend, a wild horse was brought to Philip II to buy, but no one could tame it
 Alexander claimed that he could tame the horse and bet his father the cost of the horse if he could
 Alexander noticed that the horse was scared of its shadow, so he led it into the sun, so that its shadow was behind
it, all the while stroking it gently and whispering into its ear
 Eventually, Alexander was able to tame the horse
 Alexander named him Bucephalus – “Ox Head”
 Alexander rode the horse during his conquests and even founded a city in its honor in India at its death
334 BC
Battle of Granicus River
 1st victory
 Alexander was hit in head with “Battle Axe” and survived
332 BC
Alexander went to Egypt
 told by an oracle that he was a son of Zeus
 Alexander began to feel he was a god
o Alexander's adopted the Persian custom of proskynesis – in which one prostrated himself
before the king in an act of subservience and being worshipped as a god
331 BC
Battle of Guagamela
 gained control of western Persian Empire
327 BC
Alexander began invading into India
326 BC
Alexander’s soldiers threatened “mutiny” if Alexander continued
323 BC
Alexander died
 alcoholic – caught cold with a fever and died after 4 days
Alexander the Great’s Legacy
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NEVER LOST A BATTLE
Spread of Hellenism (Hellene = Greek)
o Cultural diffusion
o politics, law, literature, philosophy, religion, and art
Encouraged education