GREECE

1
GREECE
2
Geography

• Greece occupies a small area in the Mediterranean
  and Aegean Seas
• Made up of the mainland and numerous islands
• Two geographic features played a significant role
  in developing Greece
• Mountains
• Isolated Greeks from one another different
  communities develop

3

• However, rivalries between communities led to
  warfare that devastated Greek society
• The Sea
• Became seafarers who established colonies that
  spread Greek civilizations
• Peninsula land that is surrounded on three
  sides by water
• Archipelago a chain of islands

4
(No Transcript)
5
Early Greek Civilizations

• The Minoan civilization (3000 1450 BC)
• Established on the island of Crete
• Named after King Minos, legendary king of Crete
  (the Minotaur story)
• Used bronze to make weapons
• Large palace at Knossos had basic plumbing
• was destroyed several times and rebuilt
• Sudden and catastrophic collapse around 1450 BC
• Volcanic eruption, tidal wave, mostly invaded
• Historians cant read the writings of the Minoans

6
(No Transcript)
7

• The Mycenaean State
• First Greek state, flourished between 1600-1100
  BC
• Mycenaeans are considered to be the first Greeks
  because they spoke a form of the Greek language
• The Mycenaeans were Indo-Europeans who entered
  Greece, gained control of the Greek mainland, and
  developed a civilization
• Mycenaean society was dominated by warfare and
  powerful kings
• Small kingdoms often fought each other, prided
  themselves on being a warrior people
• Conquered Crete, supposedly destroyed Troy

8
(No Transcript)
9

• Had tombs built into hillsides where members of
  the royal families were buried
• Collapsed due to famines, invasion by outsiders,
  war between the Mycenaean cities, and the end of
  trade
• By 1100s BC the Mycenaean cities were mostly in
  ruins
• Dark Age
• Decline in population and food production
• People fled cities, farmers struggled to grow
  enough food to eat
• Large numbers of Greeks left the mainland for
  various islands
• Many went to Ionia the western shores of Turkey

10

• Lost the use of writing for several centuries,
  Greek civilization almost disappeared
• 8th century BC the Greeks adopt the alphabet from
  the Phoenicians
• Reduced to 24 letters which made reading and
  writing easier
• Homer
• One of the greatest poets of all times, wrote
  epic poems based on the Trojan War that became
  the basis for Greek education system
• Epic poem a long poem that tells the deeds of a
  great hero
• Iliad tale of the Greek hero Achilles
• Odyssey long journey home of Greek hero
  Odysseus

11
Greek City-States

• The central focus of Greek life and society was
  the polis
• Polis Greek city-state
• Acropolis fortified gathering place at the top
  of a hill which was sometimes the site of temples
  and public buildings
• Agora an open area that served as a gathering
  place and as a market
• Polis community of people with a common
  identity and common goals
• Each polis developed independently of its
  neighbors, own form of govt , laws, and customs

12

• Greeks were fiercely loyal to their polis and
  regarded themselves not as Greeks, but as members
  of a particular city-state
• Make-up of a polis
• Citizens who had political rights adult males
• Citizens who had no political rights women and
  children
• Non-citizens slaves and foreigners
• Some cities develop democracy govt by the
  people or rule by the many
• Other city-states develop an oligarchy rule by
  the few

13

• New military system develops
• Based on hoplites heavily armed foot soldiers
• Carried a round shield, short sword, and a
  thrusting spear
• Formed a phalanx for protection
• Phalanx a wall of shields created by foot
  soldiers marching close together in rectangular
  formation
• Greek colonies established, one of the most
  famous being Byzantium
• Spread of cultural and political ideas
• Two prominent city-states emerge

14
Athens

• Found on the peninsula of Attica
• First ruled by kings, then aristocrats
• However poor people are getting poorer and they
  demand reform
• Cleisthenes creates the foundation of Athenian
  democracy (worlds first democracy)

15
(No Transcript)
16

• Standards for voting must be a free male over
  the age of 20 who has completed military training
  and owns land
• Accounts for 10 of the population
• Duties of people allowed to vote
• Vote in all elections and serve in office if
  elected
• Serve on juries and in the military during war
• Athenian democracy consisted of three main bodies
• Council of Five Hundred who proposed laws that
  would be voted on by the Assembly and supervised
  both foreign affairs and the treasury

17

• Athenian Assembly composed of all male citizens
  who were eligible to take part in the govt
• This assembly voted on and passed the laws
• Direct democracy people participate directly in
  govt decision making and vote directly on an
  issue
• Complex series of courts
• The archon served as the chief of state and was
  head of both the Assembly and Council
• Economy was largely based on farming and trade
• Family primary function was to produce new
  citizens

18

• Women could not own property and always had a
  male guardian
• Chief obligation was to have children
• Were expected to stay at home and out of sight,
  unless attending religious festivals or funerals
• Demographics of Athens around 430 BC
• 150,000 citizens, 43,000 of whom were males with
  political power
• 35,000 foreigners had protection of laws and
  some responsibilities
• 100,000 slaves

19
Sparta

• Located on the Peloponnesus, the large peninsula
  of southern Greece
• Like most city-states, Sparta needed more land,
  so they conquered neighboring peoples instead of
  starting new colonies
• The Spartans turned these conquered peoples into
  helots state slaves
• The helots were given to Spartan citizens to work
  on farms
• Spartans were now free to spend all their time
  training for war

20
(No Transcript)
21

• Spartans decide to create a military state to
  keep control over the helots
• Helots outnumbered Spartan citizens by 7 to 1
• Life in Sparta was rigidly organized
• Babies were examined at birth and if they were
  found to be weak, they were put to death
• Men
• Taught physical toughness by parents until age
  seven
• They then entered a school system designed to
  teach them combat
• At the end of their training, boys were sent into
  the wilderness and expected to survive

22

• At age 20 the boys became hoplites in the Spartan
  army
• Allowed to marry, but had to live in barracks
  until age 30
• Could now live their own lives, but expected to
  fight with the army when needed
• Allowed to vote in the assembly at age 30,
  retired from the army at age 60
• Women
• Expected to exercise and raise healthy children
• Had greater freedom and power in the household
  due to separation from their husbands
• Could own property

23
(No Transcript)
24

• Government structure
• Was an oligarchy headed by two kings who led the
  army on its campaigns
• Ephors a group of five men elected each year
• Responsible for the conduct of all citizens and
  education
• Council of Elders composed of the two kings and
  28 citizens over the age of 60
• Decided the issues that would be presented to the
  assembly
• Assembly of male citizens voted on the issues
• Foreigners were discouraged from visiting and
  Spartans were not allowed to travel abroad
• Kept out dangerous ideas and discouraged new
  thoughts

25

• ATHENS SPARTA
• Where Located
• Govt Type
• Military State?
• Accepts Foreigners?
• Who Can Vote?
• Voting Age?
• Life of Women

26
The Persian Wars

• (490 BC - 479 BC)
• Greeks in Ionia rebel against Persian rule, ask
  for help from other Greeks
• Persian emperor Darius decides to get revenge on
  the Greeks
• First Persian Invasion 490 BC
• Battle at Marathon Athenians attack the
  Persians while they are unloading and the
  Persians retreat
• An Athenian messenger runs 26 miles from Marathon
  to Athens to announce the victory
• He dies after delivering the message

27

• Darius is furious over the humiliating defeat and
  starts to plan another invasion
• However he dies and his son Xerxes vows to get
  revenge for his father
• Second Persian Invasion 480 BC
• Battle at Thermopylae
• Greeks are afraid they wont have enough time to
  prepare
• A group of 300 Spartans decide to hold off the
  entire Persian army at the mountain pass of
  Thermopylae
• Are successful for several days until a local
  shows the Persians an alternate path through the
  mountain and they kill all the Spartans

28

• The Persians advance and burn Athens
• Need the Persian navy to bring additional
  supplies
• Battle of Salamis
• An Athenian navy commander lures the Persian navy
  into the narrow Strait of Salamis
• Persian ships were very large and could not
  maneuver well
• Xerxes watches from a throne on the shore as his
  navy is destroyed
• The Persian army is now stranded in Greece with
  few supplies
• In 479 BC a large Greek army led by the might of
  Sparta crushes the Persians, ending the war

29
(No Transcript)
30
The Golden Age of Athens

• Athens and Sparta became the two most powerful
  city-states as leaders in the Persian Wars
• Sparta not popular, Athens becomes the leading
  city-state
• Dozens of Greek city-states banded together for
  defense
• This alliance was to be a league of equals
• Athens, as the largest and richest, ended up
  controlling the entire alliance
• Became known as the Delian League

31

• As the Leagues leader, Athens controlled its
  ships and money
• Would not allow unhappy members to quit
• Would attack rebelling members with the League
  fleet
• The League more or less turned into an Athenian
  Empire
• Used League funds to rebuild Athens
• Built the Parthenon a grand temple dedicated to
  the goddess Athena
• Pericles
• Great champion of democracy and most influential
  politician in Athens
• Commissioned the Parthenon

32
(No Transcript)
33
(No Transcript)
34

• Introduced payment for those who served in public
  offices and juries
• Believed in the superiority of Athens
• Trade brought much wealth to Athens
• Athens at the time was the heart of Greek culture
• Greatest rival was Sparta
• Had its own allied city-states Peloponnesian
  League
• Athens fears the military might of Sparta and
  allies
• Sparta fears that the Athenian navy would stop
  Sparta from trading
• This mutual fear led to Sparta and Athens
  declaring war in 431 BC

35
(No Transcript)
36
The Peloponnesian War

• War between Athens and Sparta
• Sparta and allies dominate the land
• Athens and allies dominate the sea
• Spartans surround Athens hoping for an open
  battle
• Athens avoids any battles on land
• Knowing they cant compete in open battle, they
  hide behind their city walls, relying on supplies
  from their navy and colonies
• In 430 BC a terrible plague breaks out in Athens,
  killing a third of the people, including Pericles
• 421 truce, war breaks out six years later when
  Athens attacks one of Spartas allies

37

• This time Sparta destroys the Athenian navy and
  Athens surrenders
• The walls of Athens are torn down and the Empire
  destroyed
• Costs of the war
• Weakened major Greek city-states
• Athens nearly destroyed, Sparta exhausted as well
• Sparta tries to act as Greeces dominant power
• Lost too many resources, defeated by Thebes who
  also cant maintain control
• Struggle for power in Greece led to a long cycle
  of warfare that left all of Greece vulnerable
• Ignored the growing power of Macedonia to the
  north
• Loss of freedom

38
(No Transcript)
39
Greek Culture

• Philosophy the search for wisdom and knowledge
• Greek word meaning the love of wisdom
• Socrates
• First of the great Athenian philosophers
• Everything known about Socrates comes from the
  writings of his students
• Interested in broad concepts of human life
• Best way to learn is to ask questions
• Use question-and-answer format to acquire
  knowledge
• Known as the Socratic method

40

• Socrates was charged with disrespect for religion
  and corrupting the citys children
• Thought he caused children to question the
  actions of the gods
• Believed the displeasure of the gods caused
  Athens to lose the war
• Sentenced to death by drinking a cup of hemlock,
  a poison
• Plato
• Student of Socrates
• His most famous work was the Republic
• Govt should be led by the people most qualified
  to make good decisions - philosophers

41
(No Transcript)
42

• Plato founded the Academy, a school where
  respected philosophers could teach their students
  and hold debates
• Questioned reality and believed in ideal Forms
• Every material object in the world was only the
  reflection of a perfect ideal
• Aristotle
• Student of Plato
• Emphasis on reason and logic to study the natural
  world
• Reason clear and ordered thinking
• Logic the process of making inferences

43

• Aristotle believed in analyzing through
  observation and investigation
• People should use reason to learn about the world
  by making careful observations
• Influenced the development of science in Europe
• History
• A systematic analysis of past events, created by
  the Greeks
• The Greeks were one of the first people to write
  about and analyze the past
• Herodotus First historian, wrote about the
  Persian Wars

44
(No Transcript)
45
(No Transcript)
46

• Thucydides considered to be the greatest
  historian of the ancient world
• Included many primary speeches and looked at his
  sources critically
• Greek Drama
• Used for entertainment, two distinct forms of
  drama
• Tragedies usually focused on hardships faced by
  Greek heroes
• Comedies satires, written to expose the flaws
  of society
• Several well-known Greek playwrights

47

• Sophocles concentrated on the suffering people
  brought upon themselves
• Many of his characters had fatal flaws
• Famous play Oedipus Rex, the story of a king
  who accidentally kills his father and marries his
  mother
• Aeschylus wrote plays based on ancient Greek
  myths
• Famous play Oresteia, the tragedies faced by
  the leader of the Greek army on his way home from
  the Trojan War
• Euripides wrote about characters whose tragedy
  was brought about by irrational behavior

48
(No Transcript)
49
Alexander the Great

• Macedonia was a powerful kingdom to the north of
  the Greek city-states
• Philip II reorganized the Macedonian army and
  adopted the phalanx system
• Conquered all of the major Greek city-states
  except Sparta and became the new leader of Greece
  in 338 BC, he was assassinated in 336 BC
• After his death, his son Alexander came to the
  throne (356-323 BC)
• Alexander was a great military leader and
  strategist

50
(No Transcript)
51

• Reestablished control in Greece due to a revolt
• Thebes resisted and Alexander burned down the
  city and sold all the people into slavery
• Decided to fulfill his fathers dream of
  conquering the Persian Empire
• Destroyed the Persian army and emperor Darius III
  fled he was later murdered by one of his own
  officers
• After this victory, Alexander led his army deeper
  into Asia
• Went and conquered parts of India
• When his army refused to go any further,
  Alexander agreed to go home

52
(No Transcript)
53

• On his way back home, Alexander fell ill in the
  city of Babylon and died a few days later
• He left no heir, so his generals began to fight
  for control
• In the end the empire was divided among the three
  most powerful generals
• Macedonia and Greece, Persian Empire, and Egypt
• Legacy of Alexander
• Created new cities, most of them named Alexandria
• Built Alexandria as the Greek capital of Egypt
  important city which had a famous library
• Alexander envisioned a world in which many
  cultures would live together

54
(No Transcript)
55

• Made a conscious effort to bring people and ideas
  from different places together
• Alexander married two Persian princesses
• Encouraged Greeks to move to the Alexandria
  cities
• Created a new type of culture
• Blended elements of Greek civilization with ideas
  from Persia, Egypt, and Central Asia
• Created the Hellenistic Era
• Hellenistic means to imitate the Greeks
• Expansion of Greek language and ideas to other
  parts of the world
• Massive spread of Greek colonists to Asia

56
(No Transcript)
57

• Hellenistic Achievements - philosophers
• Interest in Greek philosophy
• Cynicism school of philosophy cynics rejected
  ideas of pleasure and wealth
• Instead people should live according to nature
• Epicureans people should seek out pleasure and
  avoid pain
• Stoicism great emphasis on reason,
  self-discipline, and emotional control
• Stoics believed people should identify their
  proper role in society and strive to fulfill that
  role

58

• Hellenistic Achievements Science and Math
• Euclid formulated many of the ideas about
  geometry that are still used and learned today
• Eratosthenes determined the world was round and
  calculated its circumference
• Archimedes of Syracuse one of the greatest
  inventors of the ancient world
• Established the value of pi, developed a compound
  pulley that could lift heavy loads, and used
  levers and pulleys to lift a ship out of the
  water
• Alexanders empire fell apart soon after his
  death, and the different Hellenistic kingdoms
  were shortly conquered by the Romans

59
(No Transcript)