Early World Civilizations

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Early World Civilizations Classical Greece2000
B.C.-300 B.C.

• Chapter 5

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Villages Grow into Cities

• People settled into communities based on
  agriculture.
• Domesticated animals and the invention of new
  tools-hoes, sickles, and plow sticks-made farming
  easier.
• Economic changes-irrigation systems and the sail
  and wheel allowed trade to flourish.
• Social changes-religion, people worshipped many
  gods rain, wind, etc.
• First civilization-Sumer, located in Mesopotamia,
  modern Iraq.

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5 Characteristics of a CivilizationEvery
civilization must have these characteristics to
be considered a civilization

• Centers of Population (cities)
• Complex Institutions
• Advanced Technology
• Specialization
• Written Language (record keeping)

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Cities, Specialization, Institutions

• Cities-large group of people center for trade
• Specialization-development of skills in a
  specific kind of work. Ex. traders, govt.
  officials, priests.
• Institutions-a long-lasting pattern of
  organization in a community. Ex. Govt. religion,
  economy.
• Record keeping-keeping track of tax collections,
  laws, storage of grain, calendar, rituals,
  accounts of debts and payments, was important to
  society.
• Technology-new tools/techniques are needed to
  solve problems in civilizations. Ex. ox-drawn
  plows, irrigation systems, potters wheel, bronze
  (weapons/tools).

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Geography of Greece

• A mountainous peninsula jutting out into the
  Mediterranean Sea.
• Greece consists of about 2,000 islands.
• The Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and Black Sea were
  important routes.
• These sail ways linked Greece.
• Sea travel and trade were important because
  Greece lacked natural resources, like timber,
  metals, and farmland.

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Geography

• Mountains divided the land into regions.
• Instead of one single govt., the Greeks
  developed small, ind. communities within each
  little valley and its surrounding mountains.
• Transportation was difficult, land was stony,
  only a small portion of the land was arable.
• Greece could never support a large population.
• The Greeks began to push for new colonies
  because of the desire for living space,
  grasslands, and farmland.

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The Mycenaeans

• The Mycenaeans settled on the Greek mainland
  around 2000 B.C.
• Mycenae was located in S. Greece.
• A warrior king ruled the surrounding villages and
  farms.
• These kings dominated Greece from about 1600 to
  1100 B.C.

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The Minoans

• They lived on the island of Crete.
• Contact was made with the Mycenaeans and they
  soon saw the value in seaborne trade.
• The Mycenaeans adopted the Minoan writing system,
  religious practices, art, politics, and
  literature.

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The Trojan War

• During the 1200s B.C., the Mycenaeans fought a
  ten year battle against Troy, a city-state in
  Anatolia.
• The Greek army besieged and destroyed Troy.
• These battles b/w Greece and Troy were known as
  the Trojan Wars.
• After the Trojan Wars, the Mycenaean civilization
  collapsed.

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The Dorians

• The Dorians moved into the war-torn countryside.
• These people were far less advanced than the
  Mycenaeans.
• The economy collapsed and trade came to a
  standstill.
• The art of writing seems to be lost during the
  Dorian age.

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Epics of Homer

• The greatest storyteller according the Greek
  tradition, was a blind man named Homer.
• He composed epics, narrative poems celebrating
  heroic deeds.
• Iliad, was his famous epic poem, describing the
  Trojan War.
• The heroes of the Iliad were warriors Achilles
  of Greece and Hector of Troy.

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Myths

• The Greeks developed myths, traditional stories,
  about their gods.
• Greeks attributed human qualities such as love,
  hate, and jealousy.
• Zeus was the ruler of the gods.
• Hera was Zeus wife.
• Athena, goddess of wisdom, was Zeus daughter.
• To name a few.

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Warring City-States

• By 750 B.C. the city-state, or polis, was the
  fundamental political unit in Greece.
• A polis was made up of a city and its surrounding
  countryside.
• They could range anywhere b/w 50 and 500 square
  miles.
• They roughly housed 10,000 residents.
• An acropolis was where citizens gathered to
  discuss govt.

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Political Structure

• City-states had many different forms of govt.
• In some, a single person, or king, ruled known as
  a monarchy.
• Some adopted a aristocracy, a govt. ruled by a
  small group of noble, landowning families.
• Others formed a oligarchy, a govt. ruled by a
  few powerful people.

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Tyrants

• Powerful individuals usually nobles or other
  wealthy citizens, sometimes seized control of the
  govt. by appealing to the common people for
  support.
• These rulers were called tyrants.
• They were looked upon as leaders who would work
  for the interests of the ordinary people.

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Democracy

• Athenian reformers moved toward democracy, rule
  by the people.
• Citizens participated directly in political
  decision making.
• In 621 B.C. a nobleman named Draco, developed a
  legal code based on the idea that all Athenians,
  rich or poor, were equal under law.
• In 500 B.C. the Athenian leader Cleisthenes
  created the Council of Five Hundred.
• This body proposed laws and counseled the
  assembly.
• Only free adult male property owners born in
  Athens were citizens.
• Women, slaves, and foreigners had few rights.

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Education

• Only the sons of wealthy families received formal
  education.
• Prepared boys to be good citizens.
• Girls were educated at home by their mothers.
• They learned child-rearing, weaving cloth,
  preparing meals, managing the household, and
  other skills that made them a good wife.

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Sparta

• Located in S. Greece.
• Sparta was cut off from the rest of Greece.
• Sparta was a military state.
• Spartans conquered the Messenians and turned
  them into helots, peasants forced to stay on the
  land they worked.
• Sparta became a strong city-state.

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Spartas Govt.

• Several branches.
• Assembly, all Spartan citizens, elected officials
  and voted on issues.
• Council of Elders, 30 older citizens, proposed
  laws.
• 5 elected officials carried out the laws passed
  by the assembly.
• 2 kings ruled over Spartas military forces.

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Sparta Daily Life

• Sparta had the most powerful army in Greece.
• Spartans valued duty, strength, and discipline,
  over freedom, individuality, beauty, and
  learning.
• Daily life centered on military training, such
  training produced tough and resourceful soldiers.
  
• Spartan girls received some military training and
  they ran, wrestled, and played sports.

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Fighting Style

• Bronze to iron weapons made a new kind of army.
  Everyone took part.
• Foot soldiers, called hoplites, stood side by
  side, holding a spear in one hand and a shield in
  another.
• This formation was known as a phalanx.
• Most powerful fighting force in the ancient
  world.

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Persian Wars

• The Persian Wars were fought between Greece and
  Persia.
• Began in Ionia, on the coast of Anatolia.
• Greece was settled there first.
• Around 546 B.C. the Persians conquered the area.
• Athens sent ships and men to their aid.
• Darius the Great, defeated the Greeks and vowed
  to destroy all of Athens.
• The Persians sailed across the Aegean Sea w/ a
  fleet of 25,000 men and landed at Marathon.
• The Persians were destroyed.

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Persian Wars

• In 480 B.C. Dariuss son Xerxes, assembled a
  force to destroy Athens.
• Greeces city-states did not work together.
• When Xerxes came to a narrow mountain pass at
  Thermopylae, 7,000 Greeks, including 300 Spartans
  were waiting for him.
• For 3 days the Greeks stopped the Persians.
• A traitor told the Persians about a secret path
  around the pass.
• The Persians then easily defeated the Greeks.
• Xerxes then set fire to Athens.

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Persian Wars

• In 479 B.C. the Greeks defeated the Persians at
  the Battle of Plataea.
• Several Greek city-states then formed an alliance
  known as the Delian League.
• With the victory at Plataea, the Greeks ended the
  threat of future attacks from the Persians.
• Greek city states felt a new sense of confidence.
• Athens basked in the victory of the Persians.
• These city-states became provinces of an Athenian
  empire.

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Democracy

• Pericles, ruler of Athens during its golden age.
• He increased the of public officials who were
  paid salaries.
• Even the poorest citizen could serve if elected
  or chosen by lot.
• More citizen engaged in self-govt.
• Direct democracy, a form of govt. in which
  citizens rule directly and not through
  representatives.

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Athenian Empire

• He made the Athens navy the strongest in the
  world.
• He glorified Athens by persuading the assembly to
  vote huge sums of the leagues money to buy gold,
  ivory, and marble.
• Pericles was the mastermind behind the
  Parthenon.
• A temple built to honor Athena, goddess of wisdom
  and protector of Athens.
• Sculptors of the time period wanted to portray
  ideal beauty, not realism.
• Their values of harmony, order, balance, and
  proportion became the standard of what is
  classical art.

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Drama

• The Greeks invented drama and built the first
  known theatres.
• Civic pride and a tribute to the gods.
• The plays were about leadership, justice, and the
  duties owed to the gods.
• Tragedy, a serious drama about common themes
  love, hate, war, and betrayal.
• A tragic flaw usually excessive pride, caused the
  heros downfall.
• Comedy, contained scenes filled with slapstick
  situations and crude humor.
• Playwrights made fun of politics and respected
  people and ideas of the time.

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Peloponnesian War

• The Peloponnesian War was b/w Athens and Sparta.
• Sparta declared war on Athens in 431 B.C.
• Many Greek city-states views Athens with
  hostility because of the power they were gaining.
• Sparta swept through Greece, burning the Athenian
  food supply, so Pericles pulled the residents
  inside the city walls.
• A plague swept through the city (Athens) killing
  1/3 of the population.
• In 421 B.C. the 2 sides signed a truce.
• The truce did not last long, in 415 B.C. they
  went to war again.
• And finally in 404 B.C. the Athenians
  surrendered.

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Philosophers

• Great thinkers, determined to seek the truth were
  called philosophers, lover of wisdom.
• Their philosophy was based on 2 assumptions.
• The universe (land, sky, sea) is put together in
  an orderly way and subject to unchanging law.
• People understand these laws through logic and
  reason.
• The Sophists, questioned peoples unexamined
  beliefs and ideas about justice and other
  traditional values.

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Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

• Socrates, believed that absolute standards did
  exist for truth and justice.
• He was brought to trial for corrupting the youth
  and neglecting the gods.
• Drank poison and killed himself.
• Plato, a student of Socrates, wrote the Republic,
  his vision of a perfectly governed society.
• The person with the greatest insight and
  intellect from the ruling class would be chosen
  king.
• Aristotle, questioned nature of the world and
  human belief, thought, and knowledge.
• He applied his method to problems in the fields
  of psychology, physics, and biology.

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Philip II

• Philip II, was king of Macedonia, a brilliant
  general and politician, located north of Greece.
• Rough terrain and cold climate.
• The Greeks looked down on the Macedonians as
  uncivilized.
• The Macedonians became a well-trained army under
  Philip II.
• Philip decided to wage war against Athens.
• Demosthenes, an Athenian orator, tried to warn
  the Greeks of the threat Philip II posed. He
  urged them to unite. They didnt.
• He defeated the Greeks at the battle of
  Chaeronea, this defeat ended Greek independence.
• Philip planned to invade Persia next. He was
  stabbed to death by a guardsman in 336 B.C.
• Alexander the Great, Philips son declared
  himself king.

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Alexander

• He was 20 years old when he became king.
• He learned science, geography, and literature,
  from Aristotle.
• The city-state of Thebes tired to rebel against
  him, however, he quickly put the rebellion down,
  and destroyed the city.
• The idea of rebellion quickly disappeared.

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Invasion of Persia

• In 334 B.C. he led 35,000 troops to Persia.
• His forces met Darius III's forces at the
  Granicus River.
• Alexanders army broke through the lines and
  charged right for Darius, he fled and so did his
  army.
• Alexander won a sure victory.
• Darius tried to negotiate a peace, but Alexander
  rejected the offer and announced his plan to
  conquer the entire Persian empire.

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Invasion of Persia

• Alexander marched in Egypt, the people there
  welcomed him.
• He founded the city of Alexandria.
• Darius again assembled another massive army of
  250,000 men to meet Alexander.
• They met at Gaugamela, the Persian line crumbled
  again and Darius fled.
• This victory ended Persia's power.
• Alexanders army then conquered Babylon, Susa,
  and Persepolis.
• These cities yielded huge treasure.

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Conquests

• Alexander was more interested in expanding then
  governing.
• He pursued Darius but he was already dead.
• He continued east, across the desert wastes and
  mountains of central Asia.
• He hoped to reach the farthest edge of the
  continent.
• In 326 B.C. he reached India, his army had been
  fighting for 11 years and marched for more than
  11,000 miles.
• His soldiers were exhausted and wanted to go
  home.
• He decided to unify his empire, but he never got
  the chance.
• He died in 323 B.C., he was only 32.
• His Macedonian generals took control of the
  territory Alexander conquered and they governed
  with complete power.
• A cultural impact. Persian Dress and customs were
  brought into Greek society.

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Hellenistic Culture

• Because of Alexander, Greek culture blended with
  Egyptian, Persian, and Indian influences.
• This blending became known as Hellenistic
  culture.
• The Egyptian city of Alexandria became the major
  center for Hellenistic civilization.
• Trade ships helped spread ideas, because the city
  was located on the Nile.
• A diverse population.
• Alexandria was known for its museum and library.

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Science and Technology

• Alexandrian scholars provided most of the
  scientific knowledge available to the west.
• Euclid, was a highly regarded mathematician who
  taught at Alexandria.
• His books, Elements, contained 465 carefully
  presented geometry propositions and proofs.
• Archimedes, studied at Alexandria.
• Estimated the value of pi, the ratio of the
  circumference of a circle to its diameter.
  Explained the law of the lever.
• He invented the Archimedes screw, a device that
  raised water from the ground and the compound
  pulley to lift heavy objects.

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Realism in Sculpture

• Sculpture flourished during the Hellenistic age.
• The Colossus of Rhodes, a bronze statue standing
  more than 100 ft. high.
• Hellenistic sculptors created more natural works.
• They were free to explore new subjects, carving
  ordinary people.
• By 150 B.C. the Hellenistic world was in decline.