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Athens and Sparta
Warring City-States
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KEY IDEA – Greek culture produced many
city-states. They had different forms of
government, one of which is democracy.
Warring City-States
Center of Greek life was the polis, or citystate.
 City-states had different kinds of
government.
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– Monarchy
– Aristocracyr
– Oligarchy
– Democracy
Athens
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Wealthy and poor clashed for power
– Introduced reforms
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Citizenship
– Limited to small group
– Women, foreigners,
and slaves were
denied citizenship
Sparta
Strong city-state
 Military state
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– Boys joined
– Spartan women ran the farms and other
businesses
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Council of Elders
– Suggested laws that had to be approved by a
vote
The Persian Wars
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A new kind of army
– During the Dorian Age, only the rich could
afford bronze weapons
– After the Dorian Age (750 BCE), iron replaced
bronze and was more affordable
– A new kind of army formed - merchants,
artisans and small landowners could now
afford to equip themselves
The Persian Wars
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A new kind of army
– Phalanx – soldiers stood side by side, each
holding a spear in one hand and a shield in
the other – a fearsome formation
Persian Wars
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Battle of Marathon – Greece v. the Persian
Empire
– Began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia
– Greeks had long been settled there but
Persians conquered the area in 546 BCE
– Ionian Greeks revolted – Athens sent
help
The Persian Wars
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Battle of Marathon 490 BCE
– Persian fleet of 25,000 men landed NE of Athens
on a plain called Marathon
– Met by 10,000 Athenians arranged in phalanxes
– Persians no match for them – had light armor and
lacked training
Persia was defeated
Greeks lost less than 200 men
Persians lost over 6,000!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_jVCzTfIqY
The Persian Wars
Athenians had won but Athens stood
defenseless
 Pheidippides, a young runner, sent to
Athens to tell them not to give up the city
without a fight
 Ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens
 “Rejoice, we conquer” and died
 But Athenians were warned and heavily
defended Athens as Persians sailed into
the harbor
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Thermopylae
480 BCE Darius’s son, Xerxes, began an
enormous invasion of Athens
 Greeks were divided
 Narrow mountain pass at Thermopylae
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– 7000 Greeks, including 300 Spartans, blocked
the way
– But Greeks stopped the Persian advance for
three days
Thermopylae
Traitor’s info about a secret path ended
the brave stand of the Greeks
 Spartans, fearing defeat, held the Persians
back while other Greek forces retreated
 Made a huge impression
 Athens was evacuated and they set up
their navy in a narrow channel
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Thermopylae
Persian ships couldn’t turn as smaller
Greek ships with battering rams attacked
them
 One-third of the Persian fleet sank
 After the Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE,
Persians were always on the defensive
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Consequence of the Persian
Wars
All Greek city-states felt a new sense of
confidence and freedom
 Athens emerged as the leader of the
newly formed Delian League, an alliance
of Greek city-states
 Athens began to control the other citystates
 Used military force, the prestige of their
victory and their wealth to enter a Golden
Age
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Democracy and Greece’s Golden
Age
477 to 431 BCE, Athens experienced a
growth in intellectual and artistic learning
 Led by Pericles, an honest and fair man;
skillful politician, inspiring speaker and
respected general
 Led the Age of Pericles from 461 to 429
BCE
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Age of Pericles
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Three goals:
1. To strengthen Athenian democracy Increased the number of officials who were paid
salaries so now even the poorest could serve if
elected
 Introduced “direct democracy” where citizens ruled
directly not through representatives
– To hold and strengthen the empire
Age of Pericles
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2. To hold and strengthen the empire
– Pericles used the money in the Delian
League’s treasury to make the Athenian navy
the strongest in the Mediterranean
– A strong navy kept overseas trade open and
increased safety of the empire
– 3. To glorify Athens
 Used money from the league to beautify Athens
(gold, ivory, marble)
 Later caused resentment
THE AGE OF PERICLES
Glorious Art and Architecture
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The Parthenon
– A masterpiece of architectural design and
craftsmanship
– A traditional style for Greek temples
– Built to honor Athena, the goddess of wisdom
and protector of Athens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGitmYl6U
90
Glorious Art and Architecture
– Contained examples of Greek art that set
standards for future generations
– Sculptures showed grace, strength and
perfection and serenity; portrayed ideal
beauty not realism
Their values of harmony, order, balance and
proportion became the standard of what is
called classical art.
BUILDING THE PARTHENON
Drama and History
Greeks invented drama as an art form and
built the first theaters in the West – an
expression of civic pride and a tribute to
the gods
 Drama
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– Tragedy – serious drama about common
themes such as love, hate, war, betrayal –
hero always had a tragic flaw
– Comedy – slapstick situations and crude
humor
Peloponnesian War
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Athens versus Sparta
– Spartans were fearful of Athenian power
– Athenians wanted to reassert their power on the
mainland of Greece
Plague broke out in Athens
 After ten years of fighting the situation was no
different than it was at the beginning of the war
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– Truce
– Everyone was allowed to go home
– Territorial status remained the same
Peloponnesian War
Six years later…
 Athens launched a massive assault against
Sicily, an ally of Sparta
 This campaign was so catastrophic for
Athens that the city barely recovered
militarily
 After 27 years, Sparta defeated the
Athenians
 Athens had lost its empire, power and
wealth
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Philosophers Search for Truth
Means a “Lover of wisdom”
 After the wars, many lost confidence in
democratic gov’ts and began to question their
values
 Based their philosophy on:
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– The universe is put together in an orderly way, and
subject to absolute and unchanging laws
– People can understand these laws through logic and
reason
Socrates
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470-399 BCE
Believed absolute standards existed for
truth and justice
Encouraged students to question
themselves and their moral character
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socratic Method
Devoted life to gaining self-knowledge
“There is only one good, knowledge, and
one evil, ignorance.”
399 BCE – charged with corrupting the
youth of Athens and neglecting the city’s
gods
Condemned to death – drank hemlock, a
slow-acting poison
Plato
427-347 BCE
 Socrates was his teacher
 Wrote The Republic
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– Described his vision of a perfectly governed
society
 It was NOT democracy – all citizens would fall
naturally into three groups
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His writings would dominate philosophic
thought in Europe for nearly 1,500 years
Aristotle
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384-322 BCE
Studied under Plato at his Academy
Lyceum
– School in Athens
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Developed rules of logic
– Scientific Method
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Tutored Alexander, son of King Philip II of
Macedonia
School of Athens