Download Classical Greece

Early Greek History
2000 – 750 B.C.
Geography of Greece
Mountains
Small plains and river
valleys
Mountains isolate Greek
communities
Sea
Long sea coast with many
bays and inlets
Islands of the Aegean Sea
Became great seafarers
First Greek States
Minoans (2000 – 1450 B.C.)
King Minos
Knossos
Island of Crete
Civilization collapse is a “mystery”????
Mycenaean (1600 – 1100 B.C.)
Indo-Europeans who set up monarchies
Loose alliance of states (Mycenae
strongest)
Warriors (possibly took over Minoans)
Infighting and natural disasters ends
civilization
Dark Age (1100 – 750 B.C.)
Food supply and
population decrease
Little written records
Sailed to Asia Minor,
settled Ionia
Adopted Phoenician
alphabet
Homer’s epic poems
Iliad – story of sack of Troy
Odyssey – journey of Odysseus
after fall of Troy
Greeks used as a true history
Greek City-States
750 – 500 B.C.
Polis (city-state)
Polis = city + surrounding countryside
Center of political, social, and
religious life
Acropolis – fortified part of a city,
usually on a hill
Agora – below acropolis, open area for
market and/or assemblies
Polis was made of people with a
similar background and similar goals
Adult men had political rights, women
and children were citizens without
political rights, and slaves were
noncitizens
Military System
Prior to 700 B.C. –
wars fought by
aristocracy
Hoplites – heavily
armed foot soldiers
Phalanx – rectangular
fighting position of
the hoplites
Colonization
Set-up new polis in new areas
Byzantium
Spread Greek culture and politics
Increased trade
Transition of Political Rule
Aristocracy – wealthy land
owners
Tyrants – took power by
force
Hired soldiers to gain power
Built up city-states
Favored merchants and traders
Democracy – rule by many
Athens
Oligarchy – rule by a few
Sparta
Sparta
Southern Peloponnesus Peninsula
Took over Messenians @ 740 B.C.
Messenians revolted, put down by
Spartans
Strict military society
Raised in military discipline
Age 20 could get married
Age 30 could vote and move out
Age 60 could leave the military
Women had more power than other
societies
Sparta (cont.)
2 kings – led army
campaigns
5 ephors – elected each
year, in charge of education
Council of elders (2 kings,
28 citizens 60+)
Assembly – voted on issues
decided by the council of
elders
Rejected outside world’s
ideas
Athens
Attica Peninsula
Originally ruled by a king,
became an oligarchy of
aristocrats (archons)
Tyrants – Solon (canceled
debts), Pisistratus (took land
from nobles and gave to
poor)
Assembly (Cleisthenes) –
500 male citizens, voted on
laws (foundation of
democracy)
Classical Greece
Persian Wars
Ionian Greeks (Asia Minor)
– revolt against Persia in 499
B.C.
Darius
Battle of Marathon (490 B.C.)
Phiedippides
Xerxes
Thermopylae – Spartans
Athens burned
Island of Salamis
Athenian Empire
Delian League
Defensive alliance between city
states
Athens led
Defeated Persians
Athens forced other city-states
to remain in league
Pericles
Assembly general from 461 to
429 B.C.
Expanded democracy, gave
more power to the poor
Ostracism
Peloponnesian War
Athens
Democracy, Delian League (431 – 404 B.C.)
Sparta
Oligarchy, strict military
Spartans attack Athens for 28
years!
430 B.C. – plague hits Athens
(Pericles dies)
405 B.C. – Athenian navy
destroyed at Aegospotami
Athens, Sparta, and Thebes
fight for control of Greece for
next 70 years before being taken
over by the Macedonians
Daily Life in Classical Athens
Male dominated (only 15% of
population)
Slavery common, most families
owned at least one
Economy based on farming and
trade
Grains, fruits, grapes (wine), olives
(oil)
Had to import most of their food
Port of Piraeus and the Long Walls
Daily Life (Continued)
Crafts
Pottery
Factories for weapons
Family
Nuclear family
Function to produce more citizens
Women
Took part in religious festivals, but kept out of other
public life
Controlled by men, could not own property
Married at 14 or 15
Take care of family and house, not educated
Religion
Polytheistic
Based on Homer’s accounts
12 main gods and goddesses living
on Mt. Olympus
Each polis choose one as their
guardian (i.e. Athena = Athens)
Gloomy afterlife (Hades)
Rituals to make gods happy
Festivals to honor gods
Olympics
Oracles – find the future from the
gods (Delphi)
Drama
Western drama started in Greece
Focus on the story, not the action
Good vs. Evil, rights of the
individual, human nature
Dramas were told in trilogies
Aeschylus (Oresteia –
Agamemnon)
Sophocles (Oedipus Rex)
Euripides – wanted a more
realistic story
Dionysus – the Greek comedies
Philosophy
Early philosophy focused on
understanding the universe
Sophists – taught individuals to
improve themselves (rhetoric)
Socrates
Socratic method – question and answers
Sentenced to death for teaching youth to
think for themselves
Plato (student of Socrates)
Looked for the ideal form
The Republic
Aristotle (student of Plato)
Politics
Historians
Herodotus
History of the Persian War
First ever recorded history
Focused on divine forces
Thucydides
Considered greatest classical historian
History of the Peloponnesian War