 |
||
 |
Ancient Greece |
 |
 |
||
Contents: |
|
|
||||||||
Crete, a small island off the coast of Greece, was the home to a brilliant early civilization. We don�t know what they called themselves, but they were named Minoans after a famous king of Crete. They became successful through trade not conquest. They set up trading posts all over Greece. They also traded with the Middle East and Egypt by the Mediterranean Sea. The ruler lived in a palace in the city of Knossos. A woman had more rights here than in other places at this time. By about 1400BC, the civilization disappeared and we don�t know why. We know that invaders helped the downfall of the Minoans. They were the Mycenaens, the first Greek-speaking people.
They were Indo-Europeans who conquered the Greece mainland before Crete. They were sea-traders who traded with Sicily, Italy, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. The Mycenae was a group of small city-states. The warrior-king built a fortress around his castle, and ruled the surrounding villages.
The Trojan War- It was a war between the Greeks and Troy, in modern Day Turkey. Troy controlled the straits, or narrow water passages, that connected the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The Greeks considered it a more romantic cause. They claimed that the Trojan King kidnapped the Greek Queen, and they went to rescue her. The war carried on for 10 years outside the city walls. Then the Greeks tricked the Trojans into bringing a giant wooden horse into the city. That night soldiers sneaked out of the horse, opened the city gates, and the Greeks burned down the city. This war was considered a legend until Heinrich Schliemann excavated Troy and found evidence of a fire and a war.
After they defeated Troy, the Mycaean civilization collapsed. They forgot many skills, trade declined, and power failed. We know about these times by two epic poems called the Iliad and the Odyssey. They were written by Homer, a blind poet who went from village to village, telling tales of heroism. They were passed down orally from generation to generation, and were eventually written down. They teach us about the Greeks � The heroes displayed honor courage, and eloquence. The Iliad gives us information about the Trojan War, and the Odyssey tells of a hero�s voyage home after the fall of Troy.
The Greek Civilization was not based in a river valley like most other civilizations. The Greeks who live don the islands didn�t create an empire, but were governed in small city-states. The city-states had battles between themselves. This made them vulnerable to invasion. The seas were the Greeks� connection to the outside world. The Greeks had conquest with other civilizations. They got the alphabet from the Phoenicians, but expanded on it to fit their own needs. The Greeks also became skilled sailors. As a result of growth in population, many Greeks had to move overseas. Greek Civilization spread throughout the Mediterranean Sea.
The Greeks evolved a unique version of a city-state called a polis. Each Polis had two levels. On the hilltop was the acropolis with temples for worshiping the gods. On the flatter ground were the houses and marketplaces.
Early Governments- The Greeks went through different forms of government. At first there was a monarchy, where a king ruled each city-state. After a while, the nobles gained power because they had the money. This is an aristocracy, or rule by people who own the land. After a while, the middle class took power and dominated the city-states. This is called an oligarchy.
Changes in Warfare- When Iron weapons and tool replaced bronze ones, the ordinary citizens could afford them. This helped the middle class gain power. At this time a new kind of fighting began. In this type of warfare, massive amounts of foot soldiers called a phalanx would attack systematically. This warfare led to much more death.
The Spartans were Dorians who conquered Laconia. The invaders turned the conquered people into slaves and made them work the land. Because there were many more slaves then rulers The Spartans set up a strict control system. The Spartan Government was mad up of two kings and councilmen who advised the Monarchs. The citizens made all-important decisions. Citizens were males who are native-born Spartans over the age of 30.
The Rigors of Citizenship-All Spartans must be prepared to be part of the military. They checked every kid who was born to make sure he was healthy because if not they would die. They wanted all soldiers and future soldiers to be healthy. At the age of seven the boys began to train for the military.
Women- They were expected to produce healthy sons for the army. They were trained to exercise and strengthen their body. Spartan women had to obey their fathers or husbands. However they had a right to inherit land and they sometimes took care of running the estates.
Sparta and its neighbors- The Spartans isolated themselves from other Greeks. They looked down on trade and wealth, forbade travel and had little use for new ideas.
Athens was located in Attica just North of the Pelloponeus. The Athenian Government evolved from a monarchy to an aristocracy. Nobles judged major cases in court and dominated the assembly.
Demands for change- Athenian wealth and power grew under the aristocracy. Merchants and soldiers resented the power of the nobles. They argued that they were entitled to more rights. Demands for change also came from the farmers. When times were bad many farmers were forced to sell their land to the nobles. Athens moved slowly toward democracy, government by the people.
Solon�s reforms- Solon was a wise and trusted leader. He outlawed debt slavery and freed those who have already been sold into slavery. He also gave the Athenian assembly more say on important decisions. He introduced Economic Reforms as well. He encouraged the export of wine and olive oil. This policy helped merchants and farmers by increasing demand for their products. However only the wealthy landowners could serve in many positions. This led to tyrants, people who gained power by force.
Later reforms- Pisistratus was an Athenian tyrant. He helped farmers by giving them loans and land taken from nobles. New building projects gave jobs to the poor. Another Tyrant Cleisthenes broadened the role of ordinary citizens in the government. Legislature, law making body that debates laws before deciding to approve or reject. All men over the age of 30 were members of the assembly.
Limited Rights- Only male citizens could participate in Government and citizenship was already restricted. The labor slaves gave time to the citizens to participate in the government. Athens gave more people say in decision.
Women- Women had no share in public life. Aristotle looked at women as imperfect beings who can�t think as well as man. Men must guide women. Women managed their entire household.
Education for democracy- Boys only attended school if they can afford it. They studied how to be public speakers because as citizens in the democracy they would have to voice their opinions.
Despite their differences, the Greeks all shared many things. They all had the same culture, language, and religion. They all participated in the Olympics and prayed to the same gods.
Religious Beliefs- They were polytheistic. They all believed that their gods lived on Mt. Olympus. They made festivals and temples to honor their gods. They consulted the oracles to talk to their gods.
Views of Non-Greeks- They Greeks considered themselves superior to all non-Greeks and called them barbaroi, which is the root for the English word barbarian.
In 492 B.C. King Darius of Persia sent messages to the Greek city-states demanding gifts of Earth and water as a symbol of surrender. Many city-states obeyed. But Athens and Sparta were not so quick to submit. The Athenians threw the messages in a well while the Spartans threw it into a pit. The Greek city-states were bitterly divided. However, when the Persians threatened the Greeks pt aside there differences to defend their freedom.
Athens emerged as one of the wealthiest city-states. However, they had a little problem. The Persians conquered an empire stretching from Asia Minor to the border of India. There were Greek city-states of Ionia in Asia Minor. The Ionian Greeks rebelled against Persia rule in 499 B.C. The Athenians helped by sending ships to the Ionian Greeks. This was the beginning of Mischief for both Greeks and Persians.
Victory at Marathon- The Persians crushed the Ionians. They later punished the Athenians for sending ships to help out. The Persian Army landed at Marathon in 490 B.C. The Persians outnumbered Athenians two to one. When the Persians saw men running at them without weapons or anything they were scared from the assault and ran to their ships. When they saw that they won they sent their fastest runner who sprinted 26.2 miles to tell the news. That is why we run that many miles in a marathon. However, the Athenian leader Themistocles knew the victory at Marathon was just the beginning. He told them to build fleet worships and prepare other defenses.
Renewed Attacks- In 480 B.C. Xerxes sent a much larger force to conquer Greece. Also the Athenians got Sparta and many other city-states to join the fight. The Persians landed a small army in northern Greece. A small Spartan guarded the narrow mountain pass at Thermopylae. Led by king Leonidas they held out heroically against an enormous force. The Persians marched south to Athens and burned it down. But there was nobody in the city. The Athenians were building there fleet. They went to Salamis and sank the Persian fleet. The following year the Greeks defeated the Persians on land.
Results- Victory in the Persian wars increased the Greek sense of their own uniqueness. The Gods they felt had protected their superior form of Government against invaders from India. Athens emerged to be the most powerful city-state in Greece. To meet continued threats from Persia they set up the Delian League. The Athenians dominated the league slowly using its position to build an Athenian Empire. It moved the treasury from Delos to Athens and forced City-states to stay in against their will. They even used money from other city-states to rebuild their own city.
After the Persian Wars there was a golden age of Athens. Under Pericles the states thrived and the government became more democratic.
Political Life- Pericles believed that all men should take part in government. Athens therefore began to pay salaries for men who held public office. This enabled poor people to serve in government. The assembly met several times a month and needed a minimum of 6,000 members before making a decision. They also had a direct democracy in which a large number of male citizens took part in day-to-day affairs.
The Funeral Oration- Thucydides made a speech written by Pericles saying: A democracy is when the power is in the hands of the people. Everyone is equal in laws. When it is a question of putting one person ahead of another in public responsibility what counts is what a man possesses and not what class or anything like that.
Economic and cultural life- With the riches of the Athenian Empire they hired the best architects and sculptors to rebuild the acropolis, which was destroyed by the Persians. Magnificent new temples rose to remind people that god favored the Athenians. Pericles turned Athens into the cultural center of Greece.
Many Greeks resented the Athenian domination. The Greek league split into rival camps. Sparta and other enemies of Athens formed the Peloponnesian league. In 431 B.C. warfare broke out between Athens and Sparta. This was the beginning of a 27 yearlong Peloponnesian war.
Peloponnesian War- Athens faced serious problem and disadvantage. Sparta was inland and could not be attacked from sea. When Sparta invaded Athens Pericles allowed people to move into the country walls. This caused disaster. A terrible plaque broke out killing a third of the people including Pericles. This led to less able successors. As the war progresses the Spartans united with the Persians and finished off Athens.
The Aftermath of the war- This war ended Athenian greatness. In Athens, democratic government suffered. Corruption and selfish interest replaced older ideals.
Greeks had great confidence in the power of the human mind. They explored the nature of the universe and the place of people in it.
The people who observed the reason to find the causes for what happened are called Philosophers, which means lover of wisdom. They explored many subjects: math, physics, logic, music and rational thinking. Other philosophers were interested in ethics and moral behavior. Some questions were what is the best government? Or what standards should govern peoples behavior. The Sophists questioned ideas about truth and justice. They urged students to develop skills in rhetoric, which is skillful speaking. Socrates was a sophist.
Socrates encouraged people to examine their deepest beliefs and ideas.
A Wandering Teacher- Socrates never wrote anything down. Instead, he spent all his time sitting in the marketplace, questioning citizens about their beliefs. The questioning process that they used is known today as the Socratic method. He asked someone a question and eventually makes the person contradict themselves.
Trial and Execution- Socrates was put on trial when he was 70. They accused him of failing to respect the gods. Then, he told a jury of 501 people that if they sentenced him to death, they would never find anyone like him. They sentenced him to death.
Plato- Plato was the student of Socrates. He emphasized the importance of reason. HE rejected Athenian democracy because it found Socrates guilty. He divided society into three classes: the workers, philosophers, and soldiers. The philosophers ruled the state, the workers provided the necessities, ad the soldiers protected the state. He believed that women should be part of the ruling class. He believed that although men are superior to women, some women were superior to some men. He therefore believed that talented women should get an education like the men.
Aristotle- He was Plato�s student. He believed that a strong monarch who did everything for the good of the people ruled the best government. He set up schools where all branches of government were studied. HE wrote books on a variety of topics.
Architecture- The most famous Greek Temple was Parthenon, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena. It was built as a simple rectangle with columns supporting a slowly sloping roof.
Sculpture- They carved their statues of people in motion. They posed the person in the most perfect and graceful form.
Painting- Only paintings on pottery survive today. They offered views of Greek life.
Greek poetry began with Homer. Other poets wrote about their times. Greek literature is most known for its drama. They were based on Greek myths and legends. The most famous Greek plays were tragedies, or plays told of human suffering. Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were famous playwrights who wrote tragedies. Other playwrights wrote comedies, or humorous plays that mocked people or customs. A famous example is Aristophanes.
Herodotus and Thucydides were famous Greek historians. Herodotus wrote about the Persian Wars, and about foreign people from distant lands. Thucydides wrote about the Peloponnesian War.
When King Phillip gained power in Macedonia, he built up his army and took control of the Greek city-states. When King Phillip died, Alexander gained the throne.
Alexander was a young but strong emperor. He had a love for learning, but he was a warrior. Like his father, he planned to invade Persia. Alexander conquered Persia and continued on to India. When Alexander reached India, he conquered part of India and his army grew restless, so they turned back. Before he could go back, he died.
Alexander�s most important accomplishment was the spread of Greek culture. Throughout his empire they built Greek temples. After his death a new civilization immerged. The Hellenistic culture was a blend of Greek, Egyptian, Indian, and Persian cultures.
Alexandria- Alexandria was a very important Hellenistic city which held many different people. It had a great Museum, with laboratories, lecture halls, and a zoo.
Opportunities for Women- Women were no longer restricted to their homes. More women learned to read and write and some became poets and philosophers.
The Hellenistic world had an elaborate new style to show that they were god-like. The buildings were bigger and nicer. Stoicism, by Zeno, was the new philosophy. He believed to accept whatever life brought. All people were morally equal. The Hellenistic age had a very important leap in sciences. Pythagoras found a formula for calculating sides of a right triangle. Euclid wrote the basis of geometry. Aristarchus said that the earth rotated around the sun as well as its own axis. Hippocrates set the basic ethical laws for doctors.
Return to Freshman Review Sheets
Review Sheets Central 2000
www.reviewsheetscentral.com