Section 2: Greek Government and Society

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Section 2 Greek Government and Society

• The Story Continues Between 1000 B.C.
• and 700 B.C., the Greeks based their
• governments on the old system of tribes
• and chiefs. These tribal systems gradually
• developed into small kingdoms that were
• often at war with one another. By 700 B.C.,
• however, many city-states had overthrown
• their kings. New forms of government
• began to evolve.

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I. Greek Culture in the Homeric Age

• During this period, few Greeks could write and
  most communication was oral

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I. Greek Culture in the Homeric Age

• Traveling poets sang or recited folk songs,
  ballads, and epics

Euripides (c. 480 BC406 BC) was one of the three
great tragedians of classical Athens, along with
Aeschylus and Sophocles. According to ancient
sources, he wrote over 90 plays
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A. The Iliad and the Odyssey

• During the 700s B.C., oral poetry was gathered
  into two great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey

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A. The Iliad and the Odyssey

• Tradition says they were written by the blind
  poet Homer

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A. The Iliad and the Odyssey

• The Iliad tells the legend of the Trojan War in
  which a Trojan prince falls in love with the wife
  of a Mycenaean king and takes her to Troy

Paris- the second son of Priam, King of Troy, and
cause of the Trojan War
Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships
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A. The Iliad and the Odyssey

• The Mycenaeans besiege Troy for 10 years without
  success and finally build a giant wooden horse as
  a gift to the Trojans

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A. The Iliad and the Odyssey

• The Trojans brought the horse inside the city and
  that night soldiers hidden inside the horse leapt
  out and conquered Troy

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A. The Iliad and the Odyssey

• The Odyssey describes the adventures of Odysseus
  and his 10 year journey home from the Trojan War

Odysseus and the Sirens
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B. Greek Religious Beliefs

• To explain their world, the Greeks created
  mythstraditional stories about gods, goddesses,
  and heroes

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B. Greek Religious Beliefs

• Greek gods had human qualities and personalities
  and lived on Mount Olympus in northern Greece

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B. Greek Religious Beliefs

• Ancient Greeks looked to religion for three
  things to explain acts of nature, to explain
  emotions, and to benefit their lives

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B. Greek Religious Beliefs

• The Greeks traveled to special places called
  oracles, where the gods spoke through priests and
  priestesses

Oracle at Delphi
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B. Greek Religious Beliefs

• Greek religion was not concerned with sin or the
  afterlife but rather with pleasing the gods

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B. Greek Religious Beliefs

• One way to please the gods was to show strength
  and bravery, such as when men competed in the
  Olympic Games

The Olympian games were so important that many
Greeks dated their historical periods from the
first games, which were held in 776 BC.
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II. Greek Government From Kings to Democracy

• City-states began as small kingdoms ruled by
  warrior chieftains, who relied on wealthy
  landowners known as aristocrats

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II. From Kings to Democracy

• Wealthy landowners overthrew their kings and
  created city-states called aristocracies

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II. From Kings to Democracy

• Aristocrats controlled the military, the economy,
  politics, courts, the law, and religion

Kouros of Tenea (575-550 BC. Since archaic times
long hair was a mark of the aristocrats
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II. From Kings to Democracy

• By the 600s BC, soldiers called a hoplites became
  essential for defense

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II. From Kings to Democracy

• Hoplites, the poor, and other citizens became
  unhappy with aristocracies and supported new
  leaders called tyrants

The age of the Greek Tyrants was known for the
progress made in Hellenic civilization. The
tyrant title means that political power had been
unfairly taken, rather than that it was abused
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II. From Kings to Democracy

• Some city-states, such as Athens, developed forms
  of democracy

Direct participation was the key to Athenian
democracy. Every male citizen was entitled to
attend and had the right to debate, offer
amendments, and vote on proposals. All male
citizens were allowed to participate any thing
that required a government decision
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II. From Kings to Democracy

• Other city-states, such as Sparta, restored rule
  by kings or nobles, but limited their power