Regents Review Ancient Greece

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ANCIENT GREECE
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The Geography of Greece Lesson 1
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Greece is in Europe.
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Greece has a Mediterranean climate, which has
hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters.
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Most of the land is not good for farming, there
are only a small amount of fertile plains.
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The people of Greece were mainly shepherds and
they farm small areas of land.
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Four-fifths of Greece consists of mountains or
hills, making the country one of the most
mountainous in Europe.
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The highest mountain is Mount Olympus.
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Some of the major crops of Ancient Greece were
olive trees, grapes and citrus fruits.
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The early civilizations of Greece grew up along
the shore and the islands of the eastern
Mediterranean Sea.
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Greece is a peninsula that is connected to
southern Europe on the tip of the Balkan
Peninsula.
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The southern part of the Greek mainland is almost
an island and is called the Peloponnesus. It was
connected to the mainland by a small strip of
land. In 1882 a canal was cut through this thin
strip of land so now it truly is an island.
Peloponnesus
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Greece also has a string of islands called
Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus. They close off the
Mediterranean Sea to form a different sea called
the Aegean Sea.
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Greece has always been a country whose living,
whose entire way of life, depends upon the sea.
Water was used to ship the things they had to buy
and sell, and a major source of the food they
ate. The land was too full of mountains to travel
through, and trade by sea was easier and faster.
Since Greece did not have enough farmland to feed
their entire population, the ancient Greeks went
out in the world as colonizers and traders.
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Bronze Age Greece
The Early Period 3000 BCE - 1100 BCE
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The Minoan Civilization Lesson 2
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The first civilization to develop in ancient
Greece was in Crete, and it lasted over 1500
years, from about 2600-1100 BC.
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The Myth of King Minos
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He had a wife, and three children and a beautiful
palace at Knossos was built for him by the great
genius Daedalus.
It was known as the Minoan civilization, after a
mythical king named Minos, who was a son of Zeus
and a mighty warrior.
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He was strong, but also very harsh, and not well
liked. One day a magnificent white bull appeared
in his kingdom. The god Poseidon demanded the
bull be sacrificed to
him, but Minos decided to keep it for himself
and sacrifice another animal in its place.
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The gods were angry, and decided to punish Minos
by making his wife Pasiphae fall in love with the
bull.
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Mad with desire, she sought the help of Daedalus,
who created a wooden cow in which she could hide.
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As a result of her union with the animal, she
gave birth to a monster with the head of a bull
and the body of a man. It was called the
Minotaur.
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Daedalus built a labyrinth and Minos put the
Minotaur in it. Every year seven young men and
seven young women were sacrificed to the
monster.
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One day Theseus was among those who were sent as
the tribute to the Minotaur.
Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, fell in love
with him, and obtained the secret to the
Labyrinth from Daedalus.
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Theseus killed the Minotaur .
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The Minoans
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Very little was known about Minoan Crete before
archaeologists began excavations around the year
1900.This fresco shows bull leaping or
fighting. It was a sport and a religious
ceremony.
Palace at Knossos
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In 1900 they discovered the palaces of Knossos
and Phaestos, and other ancient towns and
buildings.
Palace at Knossos
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We cannot be certain about what happened to the
Minoan civilization.
The throne room
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Scholars think an invasion of outside forces or a
colossal eruption of the volcano Thera as two
likely causes.
An interior room in the palace of King Minos
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The Mycenaean Civilization
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The next important civilization to develop was
the Mycenaean.
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The people lived in south and central Greece and
they came from Asia.
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The city of Mycenae was built as a fortress and
it was surrounded by farming villages whose
people could always run for protection to
the city if it was being invaded.
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Around 1200 BC, some Mycenaean Greeks attacked
and destroyed the city of Troy in Asia Minor.
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Homer
About 500 years later Homer, a blind Greek poet,
wrote about the war in Troy in two epic poems.
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Homer wrote two epic poems called The Iliad and
The Odyssey.
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The Iliad is a story about the Trojan war.
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The Odyssey is about Odysseus, a hero who fought
in the Trojan war for 10 years and then spends
the next 10 years trying to get home.
The Odyssey
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Homer, the blind poet
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Greek Mythology and the Golden Age of Greek
Culture Lesson 3
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• Greek Mythology is a collection of myths and
  legends that Greeks used to explain their world.
• Although we now view these stories as fiction,
  the Greeks believed them to be true.

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The Creation of the World
In the beginning there was no earth, sky or sea,
only confusion and darkness, called Chaos. Chaos
gave birth to Mother Earth. Mother Earth gave
birth to a son, Uranus, also known as Father
Heaven. Mother Earth and Father Heaven had
many children.

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The Creation of the World
First, they had three sons with fifty heads and
one hundred hands. Then, they had three more sons
called Cyclops. They were big and ugly and
very strong with one eye in the middle of
their foreheads.

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The Creation of the World

• Finally, they had the first gods, six sons and
  six daughters called the Titans.

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The Creation of the World
Among their children was the greatest Titan,
Cronus. Cronus became ruler over heaven and
Earth and married his sister, Rhea. From their
union came the Olympian gods.
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The Creation of the World

• Power changed Cronus and made him evil. He
  was afraid one of his sons would kill him so he
  swallowed all his children immediately after
  birth.
• When Rhea was pregnant with her sixth child,
  Zeus , she thought of a plan. She secretly gave
  birth to him, and then gave him to Mother Earth.

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The Creation of the World
Mother Earth decided that the child would be safe
if she hid him. When Cronus asked to see the
sixth child, Rhea handed him a rock wrapped in a
blanket and Cronus swallowed it.
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The Creation of the World

• Zeus was safely being raised by Nymphs and
  shepherds.
• When he grew up, his mother, told him what
  Cronus did to his siblings.
• Zeus promised Rhea he would make Cronus pay
  for what he did.

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The Creation of the World

• Zeus returned to his mother. She disguised him
  as a servant. Then Rhea made a poisonous potion
  and Zeus, put it in Cronus drink.
• The potion caused Cronus to get sick and
  vomit.

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The Creation of the World

• First, Cronus vomited up the rock. Then each
  of his five children, one by one. Zeus was a
  hero. Once everyone was freed, the six children
  decided to battle against Cronus.

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The Creation of the World

• The war lasted ten years. Zeus and his siblings
  won. Now that the battle was over, the three
  brothers had to decide who was going to rule the
  universe. They drew lots.

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Zeus
Zeus won the heavens and became ruler of all the
gods of Mt. Olympus.
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Poseidon
Poseidon won the sea.
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Hades
Hades won the underworld.
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Aesop
Aesop was a slave who lived in the 6th century BC
and was famous for writing fables.
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Greek Historians
Famous Greek historians were Herodotus, who is
called the Father of History. He wrote about
the Greek-Persian wars.
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Greek Historians
Thucydides is another historian who is regarded
as the greatest because of his accuracy.
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Greek Theater
It was held in an amphitheater, an open air
structure. They had two types of plays, comedies
and tragedies.
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Greek Architecture
Some of the finest examples of architecture were
in Athens, like the Parthenon, a temple to the
goddess Athena and one of the seven ancient
wonders of the world.
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The Greek Alphabet

• The Greeks borrowed their alphabet from the
  Phoenicians.
• Most European languages, including English
  borrowed ideas from the Greek alphabet.

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The Greek Alphabet
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Philosophy is a Greek word that means love of
wisdom. The Greeks had three famous philosophers
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Great Athenian Philosophers
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Socrates

• Socrates was a philosopher of Ancient Greece.
• A philosopher is someone who tries to explain the
  nature of life.

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Socrates

• Socrates taught by asking questions. This method
  of questioning is still called the Socratic
  method.

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Socrates
1. Know thyself! 2. Question everything. 3.
Only the pursuit of goodnessbrings happiness.
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Socrates
Socrates advised his students to question
everything. He was arrested for corrupting the
youth and condemned to death. He died by poison.
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Plato
Plato was a student of Socrates. He started a
school called The Academy. Platos writing took
the form of a dialogue between teacher and
student.
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Plato
The goal of human beings was to strive for
perfection. To do this, humans should be well
developed in mind and body.
Plato is the only Greek to write about Atlantis,
a fabled Lost City. People still search for
Atlantis.
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Aristotle

• Aristotle was another Greek philosopher and
  student of Plato.
• He wrote about science, art, law, poetry, and
  government.

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Aristotle

• Aristotle taught the Golden Mean which meant
  everything inmoderation, the middle way between
  too much and too little.

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The Olympics
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The Olympics

• The Greeks started the Olympics, which were
  athletic contests that were held every four years
  at Olympia.

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The Olympics

• The Olympics were held in honor of Zeus.
• Zeus was the god of thunder and also the ruler of
  Mt. Olympus, the home of all the gods.

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The Olympics

• The first Olympic games took place in 776 BC.
  They were so important to the Greeks that they
  divided their calendar into four year segments
  called Olympiads.

Any wars between Greek city-states were stopped
during the Olympics.
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Greek Politics and Wars Lesson 4
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Greece was divided into states that were not as
large as the states in our country. They were
more the size of cities. So, they were called
city-states. At first, the city-states were ruled
by kings, but as the society progressed, a new
form of government began, called democracy.
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Democracy

• The word democracy comes from the Greek words
  demos, which means people, and krattos, which
  means rule.
• So, a democracy is a government in which the
  people rule their own countries through free
  elections and a system of representation.

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The city of Athens, on the mainland of Greece,
had the best example of democracy in ancient
Greece.
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Athens
Every Athenian man, rich or poor, could vote. It
was not perfect though.
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ATHENS
Women could not vote, foreigners could not become
citizens, and the rich had more power than the
poor.
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Athens
Poor farmers often lost their land to the rich
when they owed them money. Last of all, The
society was based on slavery.
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• Solon 638 BC558 BC

Some of the unfair policies in Athens caused
unhappiness after a while, and the Greek people
were about to have a civil war, so they elected a
leader named Solon.
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Solon 638 BC558 BC
Solon canceled all the money the farmers owed and
freed the Greek citizens who were slaves because
they owed money. He made so many reforms that he
is looked upon as the
father of democracy.
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Golden Age of Pericles460 BCE 429 BCE
In the 5th century BC, Pericles came to power in
Athens. He is considered the greatest statesman
in ancient Greek history because he believed that
the majority should rule.
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Golden Age of Pericles460 BCE 429 BCE
Pericles believed in four things 1. Rule by the
majority. 2. Everyone is equal before the law. 3.
Personal freedom. 4. The right to get ahead
through a persons ability instead of social
class.
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SPARTA
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SPARTA

• The city state of Sparta was ruled more like a
  military camp than a democratic society. There
  were two kings and a council. They did not have
  a democracy.

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There was no art, music, poetry or fine clothing.
Spartan life was simple.
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SPARTA
Spartan boys were taken from their parents and
sent to military school. The boys were raised to
be strong and disciplined and to bear hunger and
pain without complaining.
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SPARTA
When he grew up, every Spartan man had to serve
as a soldier for Sparta until he was 30 years
old. After he did this, he was allowed to marry
and have a family.
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GREEK AND PERSIAN WARS
Darius I
The greatest enemies of the Greeks were the
Persians. The kings of Persia were Darius I and
his son Xerxes.
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GREEK AND PERSIAN WARS
They fought four battles to protect their country
from the Persians. The Greeks finally won the
last battle against Xerxes at a city called
Thermopylae.
Xerxes
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Alexander the Great Builds an Empire Lesson 5
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Peloponnesian War
After banding together to fight the Persians, the
city states of Sparta and Athens began a war.
This was called the Peloponnesian War. It lasted
for 27 years. The Spartans won
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Phillip II

• In northern Greece, a strong Greek state
  developed in Macedonia

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Phillip II
Between the years 359 BC and 336 BC, Macedonia
had a very strong king named Phillip II. He
became the ruler of all of Greece by 338 BC.
Phillip II united the Greek city states.
Phillip II was murdered and his son Alexander
inherited the throne.
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Alexander the Great

• Alexander was only 20 years old when he
  inherited the throne of his father. He decided
  that he wanted to rule more land than just Greece
  and went out the attack the Persian empire.

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Alexander the Great

• He beat them and then kept on conquering lands
  and people.
• He conquered Pakistan and Egypt where he declared
  himself pharaoh and founded a city named after
  him called Alexandria.

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Alexander the Greats Empire
By the time he was done conquering, Alexander had
an empire that covered 2 million square miles.
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Alexander the Greats Empire

• It was such a large empire that it was
  difficult to rule and hold together. Alexander
  ruled it for only 13 years and died at the age of
  33. After he died, his generals fought among
  each other to have the power to rule the empire,
  but it did not last.

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The Hellenistic Civilization
The empire that Alexander the Great created
spread the Greek culture throughout the world.
This blending of Greek and Middle Eastern
cultures was called the Hellenistic civilization.
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The Hellenistic Civilization

• Finally, the Greek way of life is a part of our
  heritage and it is from the Greeks that we have
  adopted many of our ideas of democracy.