Download ANCIENT GREECE

ANCIENT GREECE
I. Geography Shapes Greek Life
A. LOCATIONGreece is located in Southern Europe
along the Mediterranean Sea.
B. Importance of its Location
Because of the seas, Sea travel, trade,
and fishing were very important to the
Greeks.
C. The Land
Most of Greece is covered
by rugged Mountains.
D. Impact of the Land
The mountains divided the Greeks into
separate communities. A polis or city-state
is what these separate communities became
known as.
II. The City-States
A. Similarities- the Greek language, and their
religious beliefs (Many Gods). They believed in
the same gods, and believed that their gods had
human characteristics.
B. Differences- Government & Way of Life
Forms of Government in City-States
Monarchy- Rule by a King
Aristocracy- Rule by the “elite”
Oligarchy- Rule by an “elite” few
Democracy- Rule by the people
Tyrants- Rule by a powerful individual
III. Sparta vs Athens
A. Sparta
-was part Oligarchy & Monarchy
-was an extremely “War-Like” Society
-Spartans put Sparta before themselves
-All Education was geared towards war
-Boys were taken from their homes at age 7
and trained to be a soldier.
Sparta Continued:
-Women COULDN’T participate in the Gov’t,
but they had MORE rights than most in Ancient
Greece.
-Goal of Spartan Women: Have a lot of healthy
children! (future soldiers or “soldier makers”)
“The Spartan Way of Life”
-Tough Hard Life, Taught to do without luxury!
-Spartans valued duty, strength, & discipline OVER
freedom, individually, and the arts.
-This resulted in one of the most power armies
the world has ever seen!
B. Athens:
-Government went from an aristocracy to
a democracy. Thus Athens is said to be
the “Cradle of Democracy”.
-It was a “Direct Democracy” since the
citizens made all of the decisions directly.
-It was a “Limited Democracy” since not
everyone in Athens was a citizen.
-Women could NOT vote & had very
few rights.
Athens continued:
-It was a society that stressed an individual
should be “Well-Rounded”!
-As a result: Education, the Arts, and
Military strategy were ALL important.
-Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle lived here.
-The theater, great architecture, and
wonderful sculptures developed here.
Ancient Greek Theater
The Parthenon
Nike: The Goddess of Victory
was created around 203 BC.
-Athenian Power:
Athens had a powerful Navy!
IV. The Persian Wars
A. The Persian Empire (today Iran) fought
the Greek city-states twice (490 BC & 480 BC)
B. Both Times the Greeks would rally and
push the Persians back .
C. The power of Athens grew after these
victories over the Persians.
V. The Peloponnesian War
A. A tense rivalry developed between Sparta &
Athens.
B. Sparta declared war on Athens in 431 BC,
Athens had the stronger navy, Sparta had
the stronger army.
C. Other city-states picked sides and joined in
the fight.
Peloponnesian War Continued:
D. By 401 BC, Athens was forced to
surrender to Sparta.
E. This long lasting war between the
city-states would weaken ALL of them
including Sparta & Athens when it was
over.