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Ancient Greece
Geography of Greece
• Mountainous: allowed
for the Greek polis or
city-state to develop in
isolation and
independent of one
another.
• Seas: Greek city-states
and its people became
seafarers due to the
close proximity of the
Aegean & Ionian Seas
• The warm climate
promoted an outdoor
life.
Mycenaean Civilization Develops
• Came into contact with the
Minoans sometime after
1500 BCE either by trade
or war.
• Preserved & spread aspects
of the Minoan culture
(writing system, art,
literature, religion).
Cultural Diffusion
• Primarily through Trade Networks
• Concept will be repeated throughout history
• Two major types:
~ diffusion through choice where the group
adopts new concepts because they want to do so
~ diffusion by coercion where the group is
forced to adopt new concepts by war and
domination of another culture
The Trojan War
• During the 1200s BCE, the
Mycenaeans fought a ten-year war
against Troy.
• Last great military campaign for the
Mycenaeans.
• Fought over Helen who was
kidnapped by a Trojan prince.
• Not long after the war the Dorians
became the dominant Greek
civilization & a period of decline
began.
• Little is known of the Dorians
because they kept no written records.
• Most of the time periods history was
passed down through story telling.
• Homer: Iliad and the Odyssey
Ancient Sparta
Sparta Government & Society
• Spartan citizens elected officials who made
up the Council of Elders which made laws.
• The major social classes of Spartan society
were made up of citizens with history in
Sparta, then non-citizens who were free
and owned land and lastly the helots who
were servants and slaves.
Daily Life
• The military was the central focus of Spartan
society. They were the most advanced military of
their time.
• At the age of 7 all males were sent to live in army
barracks where they were trained to read, write and
fight.
• At age 30 they were sent home to marry then they
reported to the military front.
• At age 60 they were allowed to retire.
Daily Life Cont.
• Spartan women were also
given military training
and were fed more food
than their Athenian
counterparts.
• Spartan women had
considerable freedom
especially in running the
household.
• Spartan women were
strong both physically
and mentally telling their
husbands:
“come back with your
shield or on it.”
The Persian Wars
• Name given to a series of battles between the Greeks and
Persian Empire.
• The Spartan army used a military tactic known as a
phalanx. (Standing side by side)
• Victories at Marathon and Thermopylae helped the
Greeks drive out the Persian army.
• Victory in the Persian Wars led a great confidence on the
part of the Greeks and led to a brief Golden Age for
Athens.
Four Forms of Government in
Ancient Greece
• Monarchy: form of govt. in which the ruling power is
in the hands of a single person. This was the case
under the Mycenaeans who ruled Greece from 2000 to
1100 BCE.
• Oligarchy: Form of govt. in which the ruling power is
in the hands of a few leaders. Between 1100 and 800
BCE small groups of people began to share the ruling
power This was shared among aristocrats. People
lacked full political rights
Four Forms of Government in
Ancient Greece
• Tyranny: form of govt. in which the ruling power is in the
hands of an individual who has seized control, often by
illegal means. Tyrannies in Greece first arose during the
mid 600s BCE. Many tyrants only ruled for short periods
of time.
• Democracy: form of govt. in which the ruling power is in
the hands of all the people. Democracy developed in
ancient Greece around 500 BCE in the city-state of Athens,
where many people began to oppose the rule of the tyrants.
One important fact. Public officials did not have that much
individual power.
Greek Golden Age
• Occurs during the leadership
of Pericles in the 5th Century
BCE.
• The achievements were
mainly confined to the citystates of Athens where a
strong economy and good
government created the
conditions necessary for
such advancements.
• Pericles increased the
number of paid officials in
Athens.
Government
• The Ancient Greeks were the first to use democracy
as a form of government.
• Under Pericles, male citizens in Athens participated
in the daily running of government.
• This form of direct democracy excluded all noncitizens, such as women and slaves.
• Today, many governments around the world
practice some form of democracy.
The Peloponnesian War
• Fought by Athens and
its empire against the
Peloponnesian League,
led by Sparta.
• More than 1/3 of the
Athenians, including
Pericles, died as a
result of disease.
• Won by Sparta.
Philosophy
• Greek philosophers, or "lovers of
wisdom," used observation and reason
to study the world around them.
• Socrates encouraged Greeks to
question themselves and their moral
character. ( Socratic Method). Tried
for “corrupting the youth” & put to
death.
• Plato wrote The Republic & favored a
strong central government.
• Aristotle favored human reason as a
way to solve problems. (Teacher of
Alexander the Great.)
Socrates
Literature
• Early Greek literature was in the form of plays
developed for religious ceremonies.
• Famous writers, such as Aeschylus and Sophocles,
wrote tragedies and comedies about human conflict
and interaction between the gods and man.
• Herodotus – a Greek who lived in Athens for a
time, pioneered the accurate reporting of events.
His book on the Persian Wars is considered the first
work of history.
• Greatest historian of the classical age was
Thucydides. The approaches Thucydides used in
his work still guide historians today.
Drama and History
• Greeks invented drama as an art form and built the first
theaters in the west.
• Tragedy – a serious drama about common themes (love,
hate, war, betrayal) and featured a tragic hero (important
person and often gifted with extraordinary abilities). The
hero’s downfall was often a tragic flaw such as hubris
(excessive pride).
• Comedies contained scenes filled with slapstick situation
and humor. Playwrights often made fun of politics,
respected people, and ideas of the times.
Art & Architecture
• Greek artists portrayed the human figure in idealized
realism. Paintings and sculptures show humans in the perfect form.
• Greek architects build elaborate buildings using marble and the
Greek column. The most famous example of Greek architecture is
the Parthenon in Athens.
• Many buildings around the world today use Greek architectural
ideas.
Medicine
• Hippocrates, a 5th century
BCE physician, studied the
causes of illnesses and
experimented with various
cures.
• He is also credited with
creating a set of ethical
standards for doctors called
the Hippocratic Oath.
Math & Science
• Greek mathematician Pythagoras, developed a formula to calculate
the relationship between the sides of a right triangle, a method still
in use today.
• Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer, discovered that the earth rotated
on its axis, and revolved around the sun.
• Eratosthenes discovered that the earth was round, and accurately
calculated its circumference. Euclid wrote a book called The
Elements, which is the basis for modern geometry.
• A Greek scientist named Archimedes tried to use science for more
practical matters, he showed how the use of a lever and pulley
system could lift just about any weight.
Minoans
• By 3000 BCE, the
Minoans lived on the
large Greek island of
Crete.
• The Minoans created an
elegant civilization that
had great power in the
Mediterranean world.
• Bronze Age civilization.
• The Minoans were
primarily a mercantile
people engaged in
overseas trade. (tin)
Epic
 A long narrative poem
celebrating the deeds of
legendary or traditional
heroes
Hellenistic
 Relating to the
civilization, language,
art, science, and
literature of the Greek
world from the reign of
Alexander the Great to
the late second century
B.C.
Mycenaean
 An Indo-European
person who settled on
the Greek mainland
around 2000 B.C.
Myth
 A traditional story
about gods,
ancestors, or heroes,
told to explain the
natural world or the
customs and beliefs
of a society.
Oligarchy
• A government in which
power is in the hands of
a few people –
especially one on which
rule is based on wealth
Hellenistic Age
• Occurs under the leadership
of Alexander the Great, who
conquered an empire
stretching from the Greek
mainland all the way to the
Indus River Valley.
• Hellenistic society was a
blending of Greek, Egyptian,
Persian, and many other
cultures that gave rise to
advancements in math,
science, art, and literature.
Accomplished by the age of 33.
Undefeated as a battlefield commander.