Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Pontic Greeks wikipedia , lookup
Spartan army wikipedia , lookup
Ancient Greek literature wikipedia , lookup
Regions of ancient Greece wikipedia , lookup
Battle of the Eurymedon wikipedia , lookup
Corinthian War wikipedia , lookup
Ancient Greek religion wikipedia , lookup
Economic history of Greece and the Greek world wikipedia , lookup
Eastern Hemisphere Study Guide Unit 5: Ancient Greece This unit study guide contains most of the knowledge you will need to be successful during this unit. Please keep it in your social studies binder for future reference. Essential Questions The purpose of this unit is to teach you the answer to the following essential questions: How does Ancient Greece fit into the chronology of world history? What governments did the ancient Greek city-states create to govern themselves? How did the ancient Greeks gain and lose power through warfare? Lesson A: The Geography of Southern Europe 1. Where is Southern Europe located? Southern Europe is located on the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. You should be able to locate this region on a map of the Eastern Hemisphere, along with the nations of Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece. You should also be able to locate the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. 2. What are some important points to remember about the geography of Southern Europe? You should know the following points about the geography of Southern Europe: a. Southern Europe enjoys hot, dry summers with mild to cool and wet winters. This type of climate is known as a Mediterranean climate, and is similar to the climate found in Southern California. Southern Europe is a land of rugged mountains, peninsulas, and small islands. It is a land that is geologically unstable, suffering many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes since ancient times. b. The vast majority of the people in this region are Christian. In Portugal, Italy, and Spain, most of the people are Roman Catholic. In Greece, most of the people are Greek Orthodox. c. The people of Portugal, Italy, and Spain speak romance languages—Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish. These languages were heavily influenced by Romans, an ancient people who came from Italy. In Greece, the people speak Greek. d. Southern Europe has been in the news lately. For a very long time, Southern Europe exported laborers to other parts of the world; this region was traditionally poor. Many Italian families, for example, emigrated to North America from this region in search of a better life. Lately, however, great changes have taken place. Since the nations of Southern Europe joined the European Union in the late twentieth century, the economy of this region has much improved. As a result, it has become attractive to immigrants from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America. As a result, a great deal of illegal immigration has been going on in the region. They are bringing a wide range of problems to the nations of this region, including drug trafficking, organized crime, illegal arms smuggling, and terrorism. e. The governments of Southern Europe are having financial crises. These nations have often borrowed far more money than they have taken in from taxes to keep their governments running. As a result, they are having a difficult time repaying these loans. This has caused economic problems in these nations, which are likely to continue. Lesson B: The Chronology of Ancient Greece 3. How does Ancient Greece fit into the chronology of world history? Please refer to assignment 5B1 for a chronology of Ancient Greece Lesson C: The Greek City-States 4. What is a city-state? A city-state included a Greek city itself and the lands surrounding it. Each of them had its own government and personality. The people of Greece who lived in these city-states saw themselves as Spartans, Athenians, Corinthians, etc.—not as a unified Greek nation. 5. What governments did the Greeks develop in their city-states? The ancient Greeks experimented with many governments for their city-states. Many of America’s ideas about how to run a government came from the Greeks. Unit 5 Study Guide “Ancient Greece” Updated 2011 Page 1 a. Tyranny. A tyranny is rule by one person who appoints himself to rule. That person rules with unlimited power. He answers to no one and does not have to follow laws unless it suits him to do so. The leader of a tyranny is called a tyrant. This type of government is also called a despotism, dictatorship or autocracy, and its leader is called a despot, dictator, or autocrat. b. Monarchy. A monarchy is a government ruled by one person called a monarch—a king or queen. The right to rule is passed along family lines (e.g., father to son). In a limited monarchy, the monarch has limits on his or her power. For example, he has to have his actions approved by a council or has to follow laws. In an absolute monarchy, the monarch has no limits to his or her power. Absolute monarchies are also sometimes called despotisms and their rulers are called despots. c. Oligarchy. An oligarchy is rule by a small group of people. An example of this would be a group of wealthy noblemen. They usually inherit their right to rule from their families. The other people living under this type of government have little or no say in how the government is run. d. Democracy. A democracy is a government ruled by its citizens by vote. In a direct democracy, all of the citizens vote to make laws and the government’s decisions. In a representative democracy, the citizens elect representatives to vote for them. A representative democracy is also called a republic. 6. What were the two major city-states in ancient Greece? The two major city-states in ancient Greece were Sparta and Athens. They were very different in government and personality. a. Athens was famed for the great artists, scientists, and philosophers she produced. It was renowned for its educational system which schooled boys from the age of six or seven in poetry, music, reading, writing, math, science, public speaking and the military arts. The city produced one of the very first democracies in human history. It was formed in 508 BCE when the people of Athens overthrew the tyrant, Cleisthenes. They formed the Athenian Assembly, which was made up of all the citizens in Athens. A citizen was any free adult male in Athens who was not of foreign birth. The Assembly made and passed the laws for the city. A Council of 500 was chosen from the Assembly. Its members ran the government. They also chose 10 generals to command the army and navy. The democracy had no king or “president” as such, but the generals became very powerful. This democracy lasted only about a 100 years until the Athenians were defeated by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. b. Sparta was famed for the soldiers it produced. From a very young age (about 7 years of age), the boys of Sparta trained for war. These Spartan warriors were a minority in Spartan society, however. Most of the people living under Spartan rule were slaves called helots. They had been defeated by the Spartans in war. The Spartans kept them in line by humiliating them and mistreating them. Not surprisingly, the helots rebelled from time to time. The city was ruled by an oligarchy—a council of warriors. They also had kings, who controlled the military. Lesson D: War in Ancient Greece 7. Who were the Persians? The Persians were a group of people who originated in what is now Iran around 2000 BCE. Under the leadership of Cyrus the Great, they conquered most of Mesopotamia and Palestine around 540 BCE. His son, Cambyses, conquered additional lands in Egypt and Asia Minor around 525 BCE. Their conquests included many Greek city-states on the southwest coast of Asia Minor (called Ionia), and they threatened Greek power in the region. As a result, the Greeks and the Persians fought a series of wars over Ionia. 8. What were the Persian Wars? The Persian Wars were two wars that were fought between the Greek city-states and the Greeks over the Greek cities in Asia Minor. a. Around 500 BCE, the Greek cites of Ionia rebelled against the Persian Empire. Under the leadership of Athens, the Greek city-states of mainland Greece sent aid to their Ionian brothers. This angered the Persians, who were led by King Darius I. b. In 492 BCE, Darius sent an army to punish the city-states of Greece during the First Persian War. The Athenians sent an army to a place called Marathon in 490 BCE to stop the Persians. The smaller Greek army defeated Darius’s larger army. (To bring word of the Greek victory back to Athens—a distance of 26 miles—the Greeks sent a runner. To commemorate this victory, we run marathons to this day). They beat the Persians because of the way they fought. They fought in a tight formation called a phalanx, which was a wall of spears and shields the lightly armed and armored Persians could not penetrate. It also helped them beat the Persians in later conflicts. c. In 480 BCE, Darius’s son, Xerxes, sent an army into Greece once more to avenge his father’s defeat in 490 BCE. The Greeks sent an army under King Leonidas of Sparta to Thermopylae to slow it down as it marched on Athens. It did so, but Leonidas and his 300 Spartans were all killed. This Unit 5 Study Guide “Ancient Greece” Updated 2011 Page 2 battle gave the Greeks time to prepare to resist the Persian invasion. The Athenians beat the Persians at sea at the Battle of Salamis. Then, in 479 BCE, the Greeks and Spartans joined to defeat the Persians at Platea, forcing them back to their homeland. d. The Persian wars made Sparta and Athens the two most powerful city-states in Greece. Later, these two city states would have serious disagreements. Later in Greek history, Sparta, Athens, and their allies would go to war to settle those disputes. This civil war would seriously weaken the city-states. e. They also seriously weakened the Persian Empire. The Greeks saw that they were not invincible, and that encouraged the invasion of Alexander the Great 140 years later. 9. What were the Peloponnesian Wars? After the Persians left Greece in 479 BCE, the Greeks worried they would come back. The Athenians formed the Delian League, a group of city-states that would help protect each other if the Persians came back. The Spartans also formed their own group, the Peloponnesian League. In time, the two leagues clashed. They finally went to war in 432 BCE in a civil war called the Peloponnesian Wars. The Spartans and their league came out on top, but both sides were seriously weakened by the wars. Under King Philip, the Macedonians took advantage of this weakness and conquered the Greek city-states by 338 BCE. 10. What were the conquests of Alexander the Great? In 338 BCE, Macedonians under King Philip took over Greece. He planned to invade the Persian Empire next, but died before he could do so. His son, Alexander, took over and led a combined Greek and Macedonian army into the Persian Empire in 336 BCE. Over 12 years, it conquered all of the lands of the Persian Empire: Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Alexander died in 323 BCE, leaving no clear successor to take over after he died. As a result, his empire fell apart into three kingdoms ruled by his generals. Unit 5 Study Guide “Ancient Greece” Updated 2011 Page 3