Ancient Greece
Geogrpahy
1. Greece is a collection of islands and lands of Greek speaking people.
2. The Mainland is rugged and rough. It is a peninsula that juts out into the sea and has very rough mountains, narrow valleys, no navigable river, and a long coastline with numerous bays and inlets.
3. There are three main geographical features that effected Grecian life.
A. SEA: they lived around the sea. They used the sea to travel and trade because there were very poor resources in Greece. Island-hopping was popular because they did not have compasses to use for navigational purposes and they actually made it to the Far East with this method!
B. LAND: Rugged mountains separated city-states and hindered unions between them. Rivers were small and valleys were fertile but not suitable ofr irrigation and control. This was not enough to feed all of the people. Grasslands were not to be found, so the herding of animals was not used either. The Greek diet was light and simple because that was all they had! (Grains, grapes and olives)
C. CLIMATE: Temperatures were moderate and the only rain came in the wintertime. Men spent most of their lives outdoors at the agoras, gyms, and political meetings or at the theater, civic or religious celebrations. Open gatherings such as these meant that most everyone in the city-state knew each other.
***An active part of civic life became a duty and virtuous!!!
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Map Activity: On the blank paper that I give you draw a map of Ancient Greece and the surrounding areas. Make a KEY, COLOR the map, and TITLE your map. Identify the following cities and geographical features. SPELLING COUNTS!!!!!!!!!
1. Greece
2. Asia Minor
3. Troy
4. Sparta
5. Mt. Olympus
6. Thebes
7. Athens
8. Corinth
9. Miletus
10. Byzantium
11. Sicily
12. Black Sea
13. Mycenae
14. Argos
15. Tiryns
16. Pylos
17. Mediterranean Sea
18. Crete
19. Ionian Sea
20. Aegean Sea
21. Cyprus
22. Italy
23. Cyrene
24. Peloponnesus
25. Olympia
26. Messenia
27. Delphi
28. Thermopylae
GRECIAN CULTURE
Minoan Society (2000-1400 BC)
Lavish lifestyle
Seafaring people
Status of Women
Mainland Greece
Mycenae was a great city
20-foot thick wall on a steep, rocky ridge
Warrior-like rulers
Society of Ancient Greece
Noble class
Weapons of Bronze and gold for Kings
Farmers, weavers, shepherds, stonemasons, bakers, metalworkers, nurses, etc.
Trojan War (around 1200 BC)
Siege on Troy
Helen
Heinrich Schliemann (1871 AD)
Homer poems true!
"Gift" of the Trojan Horse
DARK AGES OF GREECE
Dorian Migration
Little skills
No writing system
400 year gap in historical record (1150-750 BC)
Homer
Bard, Epic poems
Iliad & Odyssey
Iliad about war heroes and private battles
Odyssey about Odysseus' way home (10 year travels)
Heroic ideal was called the aręte
In Iliad Hector and Achilles
Glory for Greeks
Sought glory in battle
Sought glory in athletics in peacetime
Olympic Games
1st-776 BC in Olympia
Every 4 years
Lasted 5 days
***Pentathlon
Played in the nude!
Prize was a wreath of olive leaves but the real prize was honor
Greek Gods
Humanlike with human emotions
Immortal
12 most powerful "lived" on Mount Olympus
Myths
Priestly duties
GREEK CITY-STATES COMPETED FOR POWER
§ After 750 BC Greece came out of the Dark Ages.
§ City-states were on the rise. (Polis)
§ Citizens discussed public matters. Free adult men in agora or acropolis
§ Polis was a central force. Ideal population was 5,000-10,000
§ Citizenship is the ideal of humans as free and rational. Open debate made decisions.
§ Power shifted from warrior kings ruling to rule of noble families. (Aristocratic rule-oppressive)
§ Iron became prevalent
o All citizens could afford weapons and all were expected to be soldiers (hoplites)
o Phalanx (pg. 109 picture) most powerful fighting machine in world.
o Citizen-soldiers arose against nobles (tyrants). They took power, established colonies for trade and power changed hands often. (Nationalism)
o Other city-states found different ways to govern themselves
o Two most famous Sparta & Athens
SPARTA VS. ATHENS
Sparta
1. Located in Peloponnesus
2. Nearly cut-off by Gulf of Corinth
3. Conquered Messenia (helots) and made them slaves.
4. Code of Lycurgus
5. Way of life for children made tough soldiers.
6. Women had ALL rights except the right to vote.
7. Created little literature, art or architecture.
8. Totalitarian
Athens
1. Educated to think and act as free people.
2. Power struggle/avoided civil war
3. Solon and Cleisthenes
4. Created democracy
5. Created a great deal of art, architecture and literature.
6. Women not citizens and had few rights.
Solon's Reforms:
By 594 BC- Athens in heated conflict and they chose Solon a philosopher, poet and merchant to head the government. He was free to reign and make fair changes and laws. He was very well known for traits of fairness and good judgment. He chose to make 3 Economic Reforms and two Political Reforms.
Economic Reforms:
1. Cancelled all debts and freed enslaved debtors.
2. Encouraged farmers to grow wine grapes and olives for trade.
3. There were industry changes because every father was required to teach his sons a trade.
Political Reforms:
1. All male citizens could now attend assemblies to debate and vote.
2. Citizens (all) were responsible for justice in the laws.
Problem: Only free males were considered citizens and they only made up 5% of the population.
Sixty years later Cleisthenes was called upon to update these changes and here were his reforms. (534 BC)
1. He encouraged Athens to be a true and full democracy.
a. He increased the power of the Assembly.
b. Council of 500 was chosen by lot so that everyone had an equal opportunity or chance to serve.
2. Slaves, foreigners and women were not citizens and had very little part in the intellectual life of Athens still!
Persian Wars:
***The powerful Persians attacked and spurred Sparta & Athens to their greatest glory.
Herodutus-the first historian-gives us records of these wars.
520 BC: Persia conquered Ionia for 1 generation.
· Athens sent troops and ships to Inonia's aid.
· Persians vowed to destroy Athens!
490 BC: 25,000 Persians (Darius) and 10,000 Athenians met at Marathon.
· Athenian phalanx defeated the Persians even with less people!!!
· Athens (city) was defenseless so Pheidippedes stripped naked and ran 26 miles to tell the Athenians the news of victory! "Rejoice, we conquer!" Then he fell down dead from exhaustion.
· Persian ships arrived at Athens and saw the hopelessness of a victory so they left without a fight.
480 BC: Xerxes paid men from other nations to create a huge army of mixed peoples.
· His army was bigger and more powerful than the Greeks.
· Greeks were divided and many did not care if Athens was destroyed.
· Thermopylae- Spartans were ready and held their ground for 3 days. A Greek traitor told the Persians of a secret path through the mountains into the city. The Spartans saw the defeat coming and sent runners to tell the other city-states they would hold them as long as they could but to get prepared for invasion!!!!!!!!!! The Persians wiped out all Spartans in this city. Their sacrifice made a huge impact on the rest of Greece.
· In Athens, Themosticles convinced the city to evacuate and fight at sea. They all went toward Salamis and appeared to be surrounded by Persian ships. The waters were too narrow for the big Persian fleet. The Greeks had attached long spears to the bottom of their boats and as they sailed near the big Persian ships they punctured the ships and sunk the entire Persian fleet right before Xerxes eyes! He was watching for a great victory and saw the entire fleet go down!
· Plataea- remaining Spartans defeated the Persians at this battle and ended the 2nd invasion of Greece.
Athens (after the war)
· Athens took pride in all of their roles in the wars.
· City was burned and they rebuilt it.
· They claimed many war heroes.
· The Delian League was formed. It had 140 city-states to join and was originally to ward off Persian attacks.
· Athens later used its powerful navy to force others to join and pay dues to Athens. **Athenian Empire**
· Athens entered its brief but brilliant Golden Age!
Grecian Culture in the Golden Age!
Pericles:
· Prepared to be Athenian leader when the Persians burned Athens.
· Attended Assembly meetings at age 20.
· Elected one of 10 Generals in 461 BC.
· Re-elected every year and eventually was the lead general.
· He dominated Athens for 32 years.
· "Age of Pericles"
He had 3 major goals and ideas to implement each one!
1. Strengthen democracy in Athens.
v He increased the number of paid government officials so that now the poor could serve.
2. Build a Commercial Empire.
v He used the Delian League treasury to strengthen the Athenian navy!
3. Glorify Athens.
v He persuaded the Athenian Assembly without the League approval to beautify Athens. He bought gold, ivory, and marble with their money.
v He had the Parthenon built over a 15-year period and it had excellent craftsmanship and design.
Culture:
· Art flourished
· Classical Art: order, balance and proportion.
· Temples, statues were built and they struggled to continue this even in times of war.
· Drama
· Civic pride and a tribute to the gods were expressed.
· This was a complete Greek Invention!
· They had a festival like the Olympics for Drama and the prize was a wreath of ivy.
· Aeschylus won 13 different times and wrote over 80 plays. Only 7 have survived for us to read.
· Sophocles wrote 100 plays and the most famous is Oedipus.
· Greek Tragedies
· Each play had a chorus and actors. The chorus chanted along and commented on the action at hand!
· Actors wore masks with large lips that acted as megaphones.
· Three Rules of Tragedies were prevalent in every play.
1. They had to portray men and women of strong character whose strength led to their downfall.
2. The strength of the hero led to pride and pride led to an unforgivable sin.
3. The gods always punished the hero for sinning.
· Drama was a form of public education and the issues were very important to the people.
· Power of the people
· Power of the leaders
· Justice
· Morality
· War & Peace
· Duty to the Gods
· Family
· The importance of the city
*****Sometimes citizens were paid to see the plays to ensure a good crowd and that they were educated on certain issues!
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War was a 27-Year War between Sparta and Athens.
· Thucydides wrote the History of the Peloponnesian War and spoke of the ruining of Athens and weakening of Greece.
· There had been tensions in these two city-states for years.
· Each one was ready to war with the other one.
· 431 BC:
1. Sparta marched into Athenian territory and burned their food supply.
2. Athens survived because they had built the Long Walls. (food sailed into ports and then was transported into the city on a long road)
3. Athens was a great sea power and Sparta was a great land power.
4. Pericles struck Sparta from the sea.
5. Athens suffered several disasters
a. Plague- overcrowding in the cities caused a plague that killed 1/3 of the population, including Pericles. Thucydides was very sick as well.
b. A huge fleet was sent to defend Syracuse and the entire expedition was destroyed.
6. A terribly weak Athens was able to fend off Sparta for another 9 years.
7. 404 BC- Athens surrendered to Sparta.
a. The Long Walls were torn down.
b. The confidence in the democracy was destroyed. Traitorous and corrupt leaders only fostered these feelings.
Artistic Outburst:
· Art reflected joy and sorrow.
· For the first time in history we begin to see emotions on the faces of statues!
· Aristophanes wrote the 1st comedic play. It was a political satire that showed that the Spirit of freedom was still alive.
Philosophers:
· "one who loves wisdom"
· questioned all ideas of age
· Based all philosophy on two assumptions:
1. The universe is orderly and its laws are unchanging.
2. They assumed people could understand these laws through reason.
· Socrates: old, Athenian soldier and stonecutter with a homely appearance
1. He taught by asking questions. (Socratic Method)
2. Questioned all accepted values of Athenians. (Democracy, patriotism and religion)
3. Those who understood him admired him but most people did not understand him.
4. He was brought to trial and 501 jurors listened. His defense was that his teachings were good because they encouraged people to think about their values and actions. He was sent to his death. (poison)
· Plato: wealthy idealist who was 28 when Socrates died
1. He was convinced that average citizens could not govern themselves.
2. He left for a long time and then returned to open a school. (Academy) It was open for 900 years.
3. He wrote The Republic, which set forth his vision of a perfectly governed society. (No democracy)
a. He said there were 3 major groups of people.
i. farmers/artisans
ii. Gifted Warriors
iii. Ruling Class with Philosopher or King (Man or Woman!)
b. His ideas ruled Europe for 1500 years. The only rivals were his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle.
· Aristotle was the brightest student at the Academy. He was a physician's son and wanted to know about ALL subjects! He studied with Plato for 20 years.
1. Every truth was derived from other truths.
2. To make assumptions you must have A, B & C.
3. Syllogism: 3 logically related statements.
a. All people are mortal.
b. Socrates was a person.
c. Therefore, Socrates was mortal.
4. He helped develop rational, scientific thought.
Alexander the Great
Son of Philip II of Macedonia in Northern Greece
In 359 BC Philip became King at age 23
He was a great general and politician
Created phalanxes of 16 X 16
Isocrates, Athenian philosopher, encouraged him to unite the city-states
Demosthenes warned the Athenians so they were saved from this unification
In 338 BC Philip defeated Athens and Thebes
Created the "League of Corinth"
Philip was killed by Pausanius
In 336 BC Alexander became King at age 20
Tutored by Aristotle, trained in war by Philip
Taught Thebes a lesson, made slaves of citizens and the other city-states cooperated without a fight
334 BC- attacked Persia
Victory at Granicus alarmed Darius III
Darius III raised army of 100,000
Battle of Issus- Alexander won control of Asia Minor!
Darius offered bribes, Alexander refused
In 332 BC Alexander marched to Egypt and freed it from Persian rule
Created the beautiful city of Alexandria.
It had a great museum with an art gallery, zoo, gardens, dining hall and an observatory. There was also a library with 500,000 papyrus scrolls used by researchers!
Returned to defeat Persia at Gaugamela, Persian power was gone!
Alexander continued eastward
Explored India
Indus River Valley
Soldiers had traveled for 7 years, 11,000 miles!
In 324 BC Alexander was finally convinced to head home.
He died from a fever June 10, 323 BC at age 33.
Greek city-state rule of the world was over.
Greek Culture was transported to known world: Hellenistic Age
Antigonus ruled Macedon
Ptolemy ruled Egypt
Seleucus ruled Asia minor and the Fertile Crescent
Scientific Achievements of the Hellinistic Age
**Aristarchus
1. Sun was 300X the size of the Earth
2. Earth and planets revolve around the Sun
**Ptolemy
1. Earth is the Center of the Universe
**Eratosthenes
1. calculated Earth's size
2. Circumference of 25,000 miles
**Euclid
1. wrote Geometry text. . .Elements
2. 456 geometric propositions/proofs
**Archimedes
1. value of pi: ratio of circumference of a circle to its diameter
2. Used levers
**Other scientist built force pumps, pneumatic machines, and steam engines.
Sculptures included:
"Colossus of Rhodes" 105-foot bronze statue destroyed in earthquake
"Winged Victory of Samothrace" discovered in the 19th Century
***150 BC Rome became a major power and built its culture on Greek ideals!!***