Chapter 5 The Greek CityStates

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Chapter 5 The Greek City-States

• Between about 3000 BC and 1000 BC, civilizations
  developed along river valleys in Egypt,
  Mesopotamia, India, and China. Some of the ideas
  and achievements from these early civilizations
  were passed on to the Greeks. In this chapter you
  will learn about early Greek history, the various
  forms of government that the ancient Greeks
  developed, daily life, and major achievements of
  the Greeks.

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Chapter 5 Section 1Early Greeks and the Rise of
City-States

• The Story Continues According to legend,
  primitive Greeks called Dorians moved into
• Asia Minor, Crete, and the Peloponnesus
• about 1100 B.C. Modern historians now
• believe the Dorians never really existed.
• They do know, however, that some invaders
• did arrive at about this time, and that they
• influenced the development of certain Greek
  city-states.

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I. The Sea and the Land

• Mainland Greece lies on the Balkan peninsula at
  the northeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea

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I. The Sea and the Land

• To the east is the Aegean Sea the Ionian Sea
  lies to the west

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I. The Sea and the Land

• All of Greece is close to the sea and many
• Greeks became fishermen, sailors, and traders

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I. The Sea and the Land

• People from Egypt and the Fertile Crescent
  brought goods and ideas to Greece

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I. The Sea and the Land

• Geography caused the development of separate
  city-states instead of a unified kingdom

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II. Early Greek Peoples

• About 2000 BC, the Minoans built the first Greek
  civilization on the island of Crete

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A. The Minoans

• The civilization was named after King Minos, who
  built his palace in Knossos

The throne of King Minos, the earliest surviving
throne of the western world
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A. The Minoans

• Palaces and fine homes had running water and
  palace walls were covered with frescoes

Fresco found at the Palace of Knossos, with a
representation of the bull-leaping, a kind of
contest, probably religious in character, in
which both men and women took part
Minoan palaces
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A. The Minoans

• Many Minoans became sailors and traded for food
  because Cretes soil was poor

Fresco from the Minoan Culture on Thera Circa
1700 BCE
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A. The Minoans

• In 1628 BC a volcanic eruption and tsunami
  destroyed settlements and weakened the Minoan
  civilization

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B. The Mycenaeans

• Mycenaeans from the mainland controlled Greece
  from 1600 BC to 1200 BC, and conquered Crete
  about 1400 BC

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B. The Mycenaeans

• The Mycenaeans grouped themselves into clans led
  by warriors and tribes headed by chiefs

Mycenaean Warrior Krater12th century BC
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B. The Mycenaeans

• They built fort-like cities in the Peloponnesus
  and northern Greece and raided the eastern
  Mediterranean

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B. The Mycenaeans

• By about 1200 BC earthquakes and war had
  destroyed most of their cities

Ruins of the Mycenaean Acropolis
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B. The Mycenaeans

• Their most important contribution to Greek
  civilization was the adopted Minoan writing
  called linear B, used to keep records

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III. The City-States of Greece

• From the 800s to 700s BC the independent
  city-state, or polis, arose in Greece

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III. The City-States of Greece

• A polis included a fort, the city around it, and
  the surrounding villages that supplied food

Modern Athens
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III. The City-States of Greece

• The polis had 3 key aspects its geographic
  territory the community that it represented and
  political independence

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III. The City-States of Greece

• The polis represented the center of Greek
  identity and its inhabitants were intensely loyal

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III. The City-States of Greece

• City-states covered a small area of land, had
  fewer than 10,000 people, public buildings were
  built on an acropolis, and had an agora

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III. The City-States of Greece

• Each city-state had its own government, laws,
  calendar, money, and system of weights and
  measures

Relief showing Democracy placing a wreath on the
head of the Athenian "Demos" (body of the
citizens).
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III. The City-States of Greece

• All Greeks spoke the same language and shared
  many religious, cultural, and social
  characteristics

Greek Drama
Greek Gods