Download Greek City-States Politics and Society Characteristics of City

Greek City-States
POLITICS AND SOCIETY
Characteristics of City-States (Polis)
•
•
•
•
Around 800 BCE the polis (poleis) begin to form
Allowed people to diversify in occupations
The towns become walled cities
Each city-state had a guardian deity
•
Ex. Athena= Athens
• They communicated with gods through oracles
•
Oracle of Delphi
• 730 BCE many city-states adopted the Phoenician alphabet and added
vowels.
• Governed by landowning families
Sparta
• Ruled by a military aristocracy
• Granted rights to the citizens
• Young children trained to become
soldiers
• Social Hierarchy:
• Oligarchy:
Citizen Soldiers- decedents of
original Spartans
• “Dwellers around”- decedents of first
conquered peoples. Could own land,
were craftsmen's, and traders. Could
not vote
• Helots- slaves, lowest group, worked
on the farms of citizens.
• Women had more freedom. Ran
estates but could not vote
•
•
Governed by a group of elders in
conjunction with two kings
• Each group had a limited veto
power (except slaves)
Athens
• Formed a democracy over a
100 years or more
• 507 BCE- direct democracy
established
• All men above 20 could join
the assembly (governing body)
• Women were not citizens and
could not become soldiers
• 120,000 slaves
• Skilled slaves lived with their
masters
• Other worked in the fields and
silver mines
• Athens was in direct
competition with Sparta
• Athens was a commercial
center
Persian and Peloponnesian Wars
MUCH OF WHAT IS KNOWN OF THESE WARS COME FROM THE WRITINGS
OF HERODOTUS. A GREEK HISTORIAN
• Persian Wars:
Greeks vs. Persians (Darius and
Xerxes)
• 1st Greek Victory at battle of
Marathon (490 BCE)
• Thermopylae- Stand of 300
Spartans against thousands of
Persians. Persians sack Athens
after this
• Salamis- Naval battles that helps
bring victory to the Greeks
• Delian League formed in 478 BCE
(falls apart after the Persian Wars)
•
• Peloponnesian Wars: 431-404
BCE
•
•
•
Athens vs Sparta
Sparta defeats Athens in 404 BCE
Both city-states decline during
this time
Pericles
• Most famous Athenian statesman
• Aristocrat
• Wanted citizens to participate in assemblies to select officials and
pass laws