Download The Rise of the Greeks

The Rise of the Greeks
1000- 500 BCE
Great Acropolis in Athens
• 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
Emergence of the Polis
• The polis (city-state) was an urban center and
its rural territory
• Characteristic features of the polis included an
acropolis, an agora (marketplace), fortified
walls, and public buildings
• There were frequent wars between the
various city-states
Persian Wars: Famous Battles
$ Marathon (490 BCE)
 26 miles from Athens
$ Thermopylae (480 BCE)
 300 Spartans at the
pass
$ Salamis (480 BCE)
 Athenian navy victorious
Mountain
Greek Military
• The Greeks developed a style of warfare that
used hoplites—a close formation of heavily
armored infantrymen who would try to break
the enemy’s line of defense
• The soldiers were mostly farmer-citizens who
served for short periods of time when called
Greek Hoplite
• This is a phalanx.
• Soldiers get in a tight
box. They each have a
large shield and a 9 foot
long spear.
Political: Athens was the first
democracy
• Democracy: type of government where people
vote.
• Well, actually, Athens was a direct democracy
where people vote on everything.
• The U.S. today is a representative democracy,
where we vote for people to make decisions
for us.
Social Inequality
• Athenian democracy was very limited in its
scope
• Only free adult males participated in Athenian
democracy
• They accounted for about 10 or 15 percent of
the total population.
• Women, children, slaves, and foreigners did
not have the rights of citizens
Athenian Philosophers
$
$
Socrates

Know thyself! The unexamined life is not worth living.

I know that I know nothing.

question everything

only the pursuit of goodness
brings happiness.
Plato

The Academy

The world of the FORMS

The Republic  philosopher-king
$ Aristotle
 The Lyceum
 “Golden Mean” [everything in
moderation].
 Logic.
 Scientific method.
SPARTA
Spartan Society
• In order to ensure food supply, Sparta
conquered their neighbors in Messina.
• Messinians were turned into slaves called
helots.
• To guard against slave uprisings, Spartans
developed a militaristic way of life.
Spartans
Sparta
• Spartan society was
obsessed with war.
• Boys were sent to
military school at a
young age.
• Boys who are born
deformed are left to die
on mountainsides
Peloponnesian Wars
Athenian Navy
• Trireme
• trireme—a fast,
maneuverable 170-oar
boat
• Lower class Athenians
were used as rowers.
• Tried to ram other ships
or break off their oars.
Alexander the Great
Alexander’s Empire
Greek Achievements
•
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Medicine – Hippocrates, “the Hippocratic oath”
Math – Pythagoras, Euclid
Drama – Aeschylus, Sophocles
History – Thucydides
The first Olympics
Homer’s “Odyssey” and “Iliad”
Greek Mythology
Scientific Method
Greek Alphabet