Download Athens and Sparta

Athens and Sparta
Athens
• Men had more rights than women
– Women usually stayed at home while
men gathered in the city
• Boys were educated
– Girls stayed home with their mothers
and learned how to raise children and
do domestic work
• Athens was the center of Greek
culture
– Sculpture, music, drama, temples, etc.
• Athens had a democracy, but only
men could participate in government
• Athens had a strong navy
Sparta
• Men trained for the military at a very
young age. Women ran the household and
businesses while the men trained.
– Helots (Spartan slaves) did the manual labor
• Men were sent to military school at age 7.
Women were also trained and encouraged
to stay fit and ready to defend Sparta.
• Daily life and culture centered around the
military. Sparta did not have the arts that
Athens did.
• Ruled by a military oligarchy
– Military controls the people. A council of
elders made important decisions
• Sparta had a very strong military and made
allies with many city-states that disliked
Athens
Geography
• City-states began to emerge because Greece
was divided by geographic features
– Rugged mountains
– Islands and bodies of water
Ancient Greece was not united!
City-States
• Polis- A Greek city-state
– City-states were governed differently
• Monarchy- Ruled by a king or queen
• Oligarchy- Ruled by a small group of wealthy
people
• Tyranny- Ruled by a military leader who
overthrew the previous government
• Democracy- Ruled by the people
Athens
• Athens became the world’s first
direct democracy
– Citizens participated in major
government decisions
• Solon- A man who made a law
that all free male citizens are
allowed to vote (no matter how
poor)
Training
• When males turned 18, they took a pledge to
defend Athens and its gods
– Males were required to train and serve in the
military
• After the military, males were chosen to
participate in the government of Athens
Limits to Democracy
• Athenian democracy was only for males
• Women, slaves, and others that were not born
in Athens had no political or legal rights
– As a result, Athens was ruled by a minority, not a
majority of its residents
Education
• Boys went to school and studied poetry,
music, geometry, astronomy, geography,
and public speaking
• Boys also participated in sports like
wrestling, swimming, running, discus and
javelin
• Girls stayed at home and learned to be
wives and mothers
– Girls usually married between the ages of 1416
Philosophers
• Socrates (470-399 BC): A
philosopher who taught
people to search for truth. He
often questioned authority
and angered government
leaders
Philosophers
• Plato (427-347 BC): A student
of Socrates. He established a
school called “The Academy”
and taught students
philosophy, science, and
math. He also wrote “The
Republic”, a book that
describes the ideal form of
government
Philosophers
• Aristotle (384-322 BC): A
student of Plato. He
opened his own school
called “The Lyceum”. He
wrote hundreds of essays
on government and science
Dramatists
• Aeschylus (525-456 BC), Sophocles
(496-405 BC), and Euripides (484406 BC) wrote plays called “The
Tragedies”. These plays dealt with
war, death, justice, and the gods.
• Aristophanes (448-385 BC) wrote
comedies. He often made fun of
politicians and philosophers
Poets
• Homer- The most famous of the Ancient
Greek poets.
– He wrote “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”
The Iliad is set in
the city of Troy
during the Trojan
War and tells the
story of the
warrior Achilles
The Odyssey is a
sequel and tells
the story of the
war hero Odysseus
and his journey
home after the
Trojan War
Sparta
• Sparta was much different than Athens. They
ignored new ideas and focused on building a
strong military
– Others considered Spartan life to be harsh and
had no desire to live this way
• The Spartans isolated themselves from the
rest of Greece
Way of Life
• All males were required to be soldiers
• At the age of 7, all males were sent to
military training camps
• Spartan males were required to marry
by the age of 30
• They served in the military until age 60
Women
• Women had equal rights with men in Sparta
– They had more freedom than women of any other
Greek city-state
• They also went through military training
because they would be counted on to defend
Sparta in case of an attack
Trade and Agriculture
• Spartan citizens were not allowed
to participate in trade or
manufacturing
• Non-citizens carried out these
activities
– Helots: Non-Spartan slaves
• Sparta was mainly agricultural and
had little trade with other citystates
Peloponnese
• The southern-most
Peninsula of Greece
• Sparta is located here
Peloponnesian War
• Lasted from 431-404 BC
• Almost every city-state in
Greece was involved
• The Spartans had a stronger
army
• The Athenians had a stronger
navy
Spartans Victorious
• After 27 years of fighting, the
Spartans were victorious and
became the most powerful citystate in Greece
• The war took a large toll on Sparta
and Athens. Their militaries were
not as strong as they once were
• The city-states declined and were
eventually captured by the
Romans
Sample MSL Questions
Our form of government does not enter into rivalry
with the institutions of others. We do not copy our
neighbors, but are an example to them. It is true…the
administration is in the hands of the many and not the
few. Pericles, statesman, 5th century B.C.
What form of government does this quote
describe?
a) Monarchy
b) Oligarchy
c) Theocracy
d) Democracy