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The Story of Ancient Greece
Geography of Greece
• Greece is a small
country in Europe.
• Greece is near the
Mediterranean Sea.
• The main part of
Greece in on a
peninsula.
• A peninsula is a body of
land surrounded by
water on three sides.
• The rest of Greece is
made up of islands.
Greek City-States
• Because Greece is made up of many
islands, and has many tall mountains,
the Greeks began to build city-states
instead of one country.
• A city-state is a city with its own laws,
rulers, and money.
• City-states were cities that acted like
countries.
Theater
Greek theater in Miletus
©2004 Mrs. Joan Crick
Greek Mythology
Myths are stories about gods & goddesses
that were used to explain events in nature
12 Major Gods & Goddesses of Mt. Olympus
Zeus
Poseidon
Hades
Hermes
Hera
Apollo
Artemis
Hephaestus
Athena
Demeter
Aphrodite
Ares
©2004 Mrs. Joan Crick
Go to Mythman.com for more on Greek mythology!
Epics
Long poems written about gods, heroes,
and history of a culture
Homer most famous author of
Greek epics.
Wrote the Illiad about the
Trojan War
The Odyssey about a Trojan
War hero, Odysseus
©2004 Mrs. Joan Crick
Sparta
• Sparta was a Greek city-state.
• Sparta was very powerful and had its
own army.
• Sparta conquered other city-states to
gain wealth and power.
• There were three classes of people in
Sparta.
• Citizens, non-citizens, and slaves.
Sparta’s Classes
• Only men born in Sparta were citizens.
• Women were not allowed to become
citizens, however, women were allowed to
own land and businesses, which gave them
more freedom than other Greek citystates.
• The second class in Sparta was people who
came from other city-states or other
countries. They could own businesses but
not become citizens.
• The third class was slaves.
Sparta warriors
• Learning to read and write in Sparta was
not very important.
• Training to become a good soldiers was
important.
• Young boys were taken from their
parents and trained to be soldiers as well
as good in sports such as running.
• Girls were also trained to be good in
sports.
Athens
• Athens was another important Greek citystate.
• The people of Athens wanted to rule
themselves and not have a king or queen.
• Athens became the world’s first
democracy around 508 B.C.
• A democracy is a government in which all
citizens can vote and have equal say in
what happens.
Democracy
A government where the people have the right
to make decisions about leaders and laws
Greek word meaning “power of
the people”
(dêmos, which means "people"
and krátos, which means "force" or
"power")
Athens developed the first
democracy
The U.S. government is based
on Athenian democracy.
Democracy in Athens
• Athens was a democracy because all
citizens could vote, but only half the
people in Athens were citizens.
• Women, people born outside of
Athens, and slaves could not vote.
Trial By Jury
When a group of citizens decides if a person is
innocent or guilty of a crime
Serving on a jury was a citizen’s duty
About 500 jurors for a trial
Jurors were paid for service
©2004 Mrs. Joan Crick
Main Menu
• Pericles was the
leader of creating
democracy in Athens.
• He had many buildings
constructed.
• Pericles had the
Parthenon and the
Acropolis built.
Pericles
Parthenon and
Acropolis
Education in Athens
• Education was very important in
Athens.
• Boys went to school to learn to read
and write. They also learned many
sports.
• Girls were not allowed to go to school
or learn to play sports.
The Greek Alphabet
• The Greeks borrowed their alphabet
from the Phoenicians.
• Most European languages, including
English borrowed ideas from the Greek
alphabet.
• Socrates was a
philosopher of Ancient
Greece.
• A philosopher is someone
who tries to explain the
nature of life.
• Socrates taught by by
asking questions. This
method of questioning is
still called the Socratic
method.
Socrates
• Plato was a student
of Socrates.
• He started a school
called The Academy.
• Plato’s writing took
the form of a
dialogue between
teacher and student.
Plato
Aristotle
• Aristotle was
another Greek
philosopher and
student of Plato.
• He wrote about
science, art, law,
poetry, and
government.
Philip II
• Ruled Macedonia from 359336 B.C. and transformed it
into a powerful military
machine
• Moved into northern Greece
and met little resistance due to
residual effects of
Peloponnesian War
– By 338 he had Greece under
his control
Alexander the Great
• Alexander the Great
was the son of King
Phillip II of Macedonia.
• Alexander conquered
Persia, Egypt, the
Middle East and
Northern India.
• He died at age 33 from
malaria.(one thought)
Conquests of Alexander
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ionia and Anatolia
Syria, Palestine, Egypt
Mesopotamia
Persepolis
King of Persia
India
Returns to Susa
Dies (age 33)
333
332
331
331
330
327
324
323
Alexander’s Empire
Warfare in the Age
of Alexander
• Phalanx: A formation of infantry carrying
overlapping shields and long spears, developed by
Philip II and used by Alexander the Great
• Hoplite
Warfare in the Age of
Alexander
– The main melee
warrior of the
Macedonian army.
– Worked mainly in the
tight phalanx
formation, creating
impregnable lines that
often left the enemy
demoralized.
Warfare in the Age of
Alexander
• Sieges involved the
surrounding and
blockading of a town or
fortress by an army
trying to capture it.
• A variety of weapons
were built to hurl
projectiles over city
walls, scale or batter the
walls, and transport
soldiers over them.
• Alexander
The End of the Empire
– Married Roxanna and had his men
also intermarry
– Adopted Eastern dress and habits
– Publicly insisted upon his descent
from the gods
– Began giving key positions to
Persians
• The Macedonians were tired of
campaigning and resented the
changes in Alexander’s behavior
and become mutinous
• Alexander died in June 323,
perhaps as a result of poisoning
"The Marriage of
Alexander the Great
and Roxanna" by
Ishmail Parbury
• After Alexander died, his
generals jockeyed for
power and by 275 they
had divided up his
kingdom into three large
states
– Antigonus took Greece
and Macedon
– Ptolemy took Egypt
– Seleuces took the
former Achaemenid
empire
• The period of Alexander
and his successors is
called the Hellenistic
period to reflect the
broad influence of Greek
culture beyond Greece’s
borders
After Alexander