Download World History I - Ms. Cassida Global Studies I

World History I
SOL Review
Ancient Greece
Location
Ancient Greece is located on a peninsula between the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean
Sea. Greece had easy access to the Fertile Crescent and Egypt. Greece’s location made it
ideal for trade and cultural diffusion. Greece’s geography was mainly affected by its
mountainous terrain.
Greece’s mountainous terrain affected its history:
 Resulted in the development of city-states, not a single empire
 Had poor farmland that pushed people to form colonies
 Had to depend on the sea and trade
Religion
Greek mythology was a rich collection of stories/myths about Greek gods/goddesses.
Greek myths explained mysteries of natural phenomena. Greek gods and goddesses had
human qualities and influenced western literature and art. Ancient Greeks were polytheistic,
meaning they worshipped many gods. Important gods/goddesses to Ancient Greece were:
 Zeus – chief god
 Hera – goddess of marriage
 Apollo – god of the sun
 Artemis – god of the hunt and moon
 Aphrodite – goddess of love
 Athena – goddess of wisdom
Economy
Greek colonies eased overcrowding on the mainland. Greek city-states traded wine and
olives for grain. Greek merchants traded throughout the Mediterranean area, replacing
barter with a money economy. Trade led to the spread of Hellenic culture.
Government
A polis was a Greek city-state and it demanded intense loyalty.
There were three groups of people in the polis:
 Citizens – free adult males that had political rights
 Free people with no political rights – women and foreigners
 Non-citizens – slaves with no rights
Civic participation was expected of citizens, and decisions were made in open debate. This
was the foundations or beginnings of modern democracy.
After 750BC, Athens was the primary city-state and had four stages of government:
 Monarchy – rule by one person who inherited his/her powers
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Aristocracy – rule by a small group of nobles (also called oligarchy)
Tyranny – rule by one person that seized power by force
Democracy – rule by an assembly in which citizens could vote (major Greek
contribution – no democracy existed before Greece)
In Athens the struggles for power by tyrants were often influenced by the condition or plight
of farmers. Draco (a tyrant) developed written laws with severe punishments. Solon
improved the legal system and expanded participation in the assembly.
Sparta however was ruled by a small group called an oligarchy (or an aristocracy). Sparta’s
society had a rigid social structure and was a military and aggressive society.
Persian Wars
The Persian Wars united Sparta and Athens against a common enemy. The Greeks won
victories at Marathon and Salamis, which gave them control of the Aegean Sea. The defeat
of the Persians resulted in the beginning of the Golden Age of Greece, also known as the
Age of Pericles.
Peloponnesian War
The causes of the Peloponnesian War were:
 Athens dominated the Delian League
 Sparta dominated the Peloponnesian league
 Sparta and Athens competed for control of the Greek world
The effects of the Peloponnesian War were:
 Hellenic Age ended
 Greece left weak and open to invasion
 Cultural development slowed
Age of Pericles
Pericles extended democracy in Athens where most adult male citizens had equal voice in
government. Pericles rebuilt Athens after the Persian Wars and the Parthenon was built.
Under Pericles, Athens formed the Delian League, an alliance of Greek city-states, to form a
defense against external enemies.
The contributions of Ancient Greece during its Golden Age are the following:
 Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
 Drama: Aeschylus, Sophocles
 Poetry: Homer, who wrote The Illiad, and the Odyssey
 History: Herodotus and Thucydides
 Sculpture: Phidias (and his statue of Athena)
 Architecture: Parthenon and columns (Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian)
 Science: Archimedes, Hippocrates (medicine)
 Mathematics: Euclid, Pythagoras
Alexander the Great
The Greek city-states were conquered by Macedonia (under King Philip II) after the
Peloponnesian Wars had greatly weakened the city-states. Alexander the Great (his son)
conquered the Persian Empire and areas as far east as the Indus River Valley. Alexander
carried Greek culture to the conquered territories and combined it with the cultures of the
conquered peoples. Greek was spoken by leaders from Macedonia to Egypt. The
Hellenistic (Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Indian) Age lasted until the rise of the Roman
Empire.
Identify the following: