Download ch 5.3 Democracy and Greece`s Golden Age - mrs

Democracy and Greece’s
Golden Age
Chapter 5 section 3
Page 120
What Do You Remember?
Who rules in a monarchy political structure?
Kings
 What was the fearsome formation that became a
powerful fighting force in Greece called?
 Phalanx
 What kind of political structure did Athens have?
 Direct democracy
 Who fought in the Persian Wars?
 Greece and Persian Empire
 Who won the Persian wars?
 Greece
 What was the Delian League?
 An alliance of 140 Greek cities
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During Athens's golden age, drama, sculpture,
poetry, architecture and science reach new
heights
 For 50 years (480-430 B.C.) Athens experienced
growth in intellectual and artistic learning

Pericles’ Three Goals for Athens
Wise statesmen,
Pericles led Athens
during its golden age
 Popular politician,
respectful general,
inspiring speaker- led
for 32 years, known as
Age of Pericles
 Had 3 goals for
Athens:
1) strengthen Athenian
democracy
2) to hold and
strengthen the empire
3) glorify Athens

#1 Strengthen Democracy
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To become a stronger democracy, Pericles
increased number of paid public officials
Before, only wealthy people could afford to be
public officials, not paid positions
Now even poor people could serve
More citizens became involved in government
than any other city-state, but limited to citizens
Direct democracy- citizens rule directly, not
through representatives, important legacy to
Pericles
#2 Hold and Strengthen the
Empire
Pericles used money from the Delian
League to build Athens’ 200 ship navy into
strongest in the Mediterranean
 Strong navy helped strengthen the safety
of the empire
 Prosperity depended on gaining access to
surrounding water ways and overseas
trade for grain and other materials

#3 Glorify Athens
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Pericles also used money from Delian League
(without approval) to pay for:
1) the building of the Parthenon- took 15 years
for a group of artisans to create
2) buy gold, silver and marble

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG1tU
dmfleA
Greek Styles in Art
Parthenon was built to honor Athena and
contained examples of Greek art setting
standards for generations to come
 A giant statue of Athena (38 ft tall) stood in the
Parthenon- sculpture was created by Phidias
making it from gold and ivory
 Greek sculptors aimed to create figures that
were strong, graceful, and perfectly formed,
showing no facial expressions
 Values of order, balance and proportion became
the standard of what is called classical art

Greek Drama
Greeks invented drama and built first
theaters
 Theatrical productions were tributes to
pride and Gods
 Actors used colorful costumes and masks
to add drama
 Wealthy paid for productions as a civic
duty
 2 kinds of drama- tragedy and comedy

Tragedy Drama
Serious drama about love, hate, war or
betrayal
 3 notable dramatists wrote tragedies:
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides

Comedy Drama
Comedies
contained scenes
with crude humor
and made fun of a
subject like
politics, customs,
etc.
 The fact that
Athenians could
listen to criticism
of themselves
showed freedom of
public discussion
that existed in
democratic Athens
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BUT!
Tension is growing between Sparta
and Athens, especially as Athens
grows into strong naval empire
 Instead of avoiding conflict, leaders
encourage war

Sparta and Athens Go to War
Sparta declares
war on Athens in
431 B.C.
 Peloponnesian War
begins
 Athens had
strongest sea
power in Greece
 Sparta had
advantage on land
because it was
located inland; not
easy to attack from
sea

Pericles’ strategy was to avoid land battles
with Sparta and wait for opportunity to
strike Sparta’s allies from sea
 Sparta invades Athenian territory and
burns local food supply
 Pericles brings residents inside safety of
city walls, city was safe as long as ships
could sail into port with food from allies
and other foreign states
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Some problems
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Athens has 2 major problems:
1) a plague spreads and kills 1/3 to 2/3 of
Athens’ population- including Pericles!
2) Athenian assembly sent a huge fleet
carrying 27,000 soldiers to destroy the
polis of Syracuse- Sparta’s wealthiest
ally. The fleet was defeated and almost
everyone was killed and only a few came
home
Athens Surrenders
Athens fended off Spartan attacks for nine
more years and surrender in 404 B.C.
 After 27 years of war, Athens had lost its
empire, and confidence in democratic
government failed due to corrupt
politicians
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Philosophers
During time of questioning and uncertainty,
great thinkers determined to seek the truth
evolve
 Philosophers- lovers of wisdom
 Based philosophy on 2 assumptions: 1) universe
is put together in an orderly way and is subject
to absolute and unchanging laws 2) people can
understand these laws through logic and reason
 One group, the Sophists, questioned Greek
gods, and was deemed radical and dangerous to
Athenians

Socrates
Strong critic of sophists
Believed absolute standards did exist for truth
and justice
 Once said “The unexamined life is not worth
living”
 Majority of Athenians didn’t understand this old
man or his ideas
 399 B.C. brought to trial at 70 yrs old for
“corrupting the youth of Athens”, condemned to
death and died after drinking a slow acting
poison
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Painting- the Death of Socrates
The Trial of Socrates
Plato
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Student of Socrates, was 28 when Socrates died
Wrote The Republic stating his vision of a
perfectly governed society
All citizens fall into 3 groups: 1)farmers and
artisans 2) warriors 3) ruling class
Person with greatest intellect from ruling class
would be king
His only rivals in importance were his teacher,
Socrates and Aristotle, his student
Aristotle
Questioned nature of the world and of human
belief
 Work provides basis of the scientific method
used today
 One of his most famous pupils was Alexander,
son of King Philip of Macedonia
 Began tutoring Alexander when he was 13 years
old, and stopped 7 years later when Alexander
became ruler of Macedonia
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http://www.youtube.com/user/historyteachers#p/u/24/fwYYxVGsS0E
Assignments:
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In 8 sentences or
less, paraphrase
the lesson and
notes from today's
lecture. Include
information from
the Delian
League, Drama,
Peloponnesian
War, and
Philosophers

Describe what
Socrates means
when he says, “the
unexamined life is
not worth living”.
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Do NOT copy your
neighbor’s answer- this
needs to be YOUR
interpretation
Should use at least 20
words
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